The Oblivious Life
by JakuraAngel
Summary: AU. The war has left scars on everyone across the Nations. Distrust increases as the Royal Family of The Land of Fire is being plotted against and things that weren't meant to be found are found. The Middle Ages. Rated M for mature content.
1. Prologue

**A/N**

Here is my newest fanfic _The Oblivious Life_!

To give some background story for this one: I've been planning on writing something like this for a pretty long time and now I just got some kind of an boost to write it especially now that I finished _Strugglin' My Life_.

All I hope is that you like this one and I'll try get the chapter 1 ready for next weekend but you never know what life brings before you that takes all your time to write.

Also if you're reading _Immortal Death_ I'll try to get the next chapter for that one too ready for next weekend so look forward to them both!

So here's the prologue for _The Oblivious_ _Life_!

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**The Oblivious Life**

_**- Prologue** -_

* * *

In the times of the Dark Ages, where the strongest and the bravest ruled the world and the mightiest of knights protect their lands - the world is ruled by The Five Great Nations. These countries have their own vast areas each of them ruled by a Royal Family of their capital. The Land of Earth in the Northwest, The Land of Lightning in the Northeast, The Land of Water in the East, The Land of Wind in the Southwest and final but not least the biggest nation of them all: The Land of Fire, in the middle.

This peace and order has been continuing for over 700 years since the first Nations were created from smaller villages and clan regions. The first two Nations were The Land of Fire and Earth, and taking example after these two others tried to create countries similar to them but The Lightning, Wind and Water had the most stable constitution of them all making the others crumble and join with the bigger ones. Or like Amegakure which separated from the Land of Earth to become its own smaller country.

Power balance between the Nations has moved from one to the other creating rivalry between them.

Every land consist of their own capitals, in which the Royal Families rule their lands and smaller countryside villages scattered around its regions. The Land of Fire, that is the biggest and respected country by all the other Great Nations and smaller ones (placed between the greater ones) their capital is called Konohagakure or shortly Konoha. Since the Fourth Great War there's been a lot of tension between the winners and losers of the battle and also a lot of distrust.

The war that constricted the relationships of the Nations started after The Land of Water, Lightning and Earth declared war on the Fire country: their goal to replace the greatest country but the Royal Family in Konoha was already aware of the plot against their land: all thanks to The Land of Wind's king who wasn't interested in going around declaring war on the Fire country. That would have damaged their trading market severely and also broke the bonds formed between marriages between the clans in Konoha and Suna.

Along with the Wind country, many smaller ones sided with the Fire country because of the help they received from the it, along with the protection they got too. Even though the military help from them wasn't spectacular comparison to the Wind and the Fire nations' army but the medical help was priceless.

Even though the confrontation wasn't fair (two against three) the underdog won miraculously. One reason for the victory had to be the very talented clans in Konoha who are known to be loyal to their king - even ready to die for him.

The Uchiha's (The Royal Family of Konohagakure) are known to be merciless, especially when it's about betrayal and in this case it was. The King Fugaku Uchiha was irritated and nonetheless felt betrayed. He was ready to rip the Royal status off of the Royal Families of Iwagakure, Kumogakure and Kirigakure and place the lands under the power of the The Land of Fire but eventually decided against it, ( to clear it out: 'Behind every great man there's a woman.'). Finally everything was almost back to normal, except the distrust the Uchiha's and the Royal Family of Sunagakure the Sabaku's felt towards The Land of Earth, Water and Lightning. The war had officially ended and no one had to fear for their lives but the tension was clear and it would take time to repair the damage.

The loses of good men still weighted everyone's minds especially in Konoha, where almost everyone knows each other by name and if not by name then by surname. For a week, after the, war the streets were covered in white due to respect for the people who had become victims of the war. What made the citizens of Konoha and Suna practically hate the people in the attacking countries was that it all happen only because they wanted to be admired like Konoha.

The alliance between Suna and Konoha bloomed afterwards and it didn't take long before the Royal Family and the clan heads from The Land of Wind came to celebrate their victory to Konoha. It was one of the biggest festivals in a long time and everyone was included. Your status in society didn't matter at the time because the King had declared that everyone was to celebrate. The streets were full of laughter, children running around and decorations coloring the normally busy streets.

Unfortunately the celebration ended quickly the following day when the most devastating news came to the ears of the King Fugaku. To put it lightly: he was furious.

* * *

Twenty years has passed since the war. All repairs that had to be done has been completed a long time ago and peace between the Nations is still going on strong. In Sunagakure which wasn't the main battlefield the damage wasn't as severe as it was in Konohagakure. The sand around the capital made The Land of Wind also very inconvenient for a battle and the attackers tried to mainly stay in the Fire country which has more meadows and forests - perfect environment for battle.

Compared to Konoha, Suna doesn't have as much old clans that has their own compounds in the capital except a few. These few families's been the protectors of Suna but now one of the few is crumbling down.

The clan Kiroha has shrank down over the years because of the battles it has gone through and the birth rate has decreased among the clan. A final nail in the coffin came few weeks ago when it came to knowledge that the current head of the clan Kiroha Ichiro had gambled all of the clans money and lost it all: even their properties.

A full sized moving out has been continuing since yesterday as the remaining people of the clan (whether a clan member or an employee) has to move to live with the normal citizens.

This has also caused problems among the maids that has been working for the family.

"Is everyone ready?" A commanding female voice boomed through the maidens quarters, silencing all the talking, echoing around the place and causing everyone to look at the busty female.

A small-sized woman stepped forward separating herself from the mass of maids. Hands shyly before her and head lowered in respect, hair behind her head twisted into a tight bun. "Everyone's is ready." She replied quietly, not making any kind of eye contact with the respected woman.

"Good." The older woman nodded satisfied of the quick pace the maids had, especially in such a short notice. It was announced only yesterday evening that every servant within the compound would leave the following morning. All the servants were taken in by the Service Trade of Konoha or Suna. Its duty is to train servants and maids and to find them a suitable place to work whether a bar or a Royal Family's quarters.

Of course when you're happy with the place you're working, you're not going to be happy when suddenly the place is taken away just like that. Kiroha clan's maids and servants were packing their things all night and are clearly exhausted which doesn't do any good to their mood at all. _Nothing wouldn't have happened if the clan head wouldn't be so damn reckless_, the thought was on everyone's minds.

Tsunade (who's responsible of the transfer of the people within the compound to Konoha) has been doing check ups for the ones who are going to be moving to The Land of Fire's Service Trade's headquarters until they are relocated to different jobs. The others who hadn't had the check up are going to be staying in The Land of Wind.

"Well then, take your belongings and follow either me or Suzuki." Tsunade said while directing a swift move toward the brown haired woman next to her.

Everyone picked their bags and walked behind Tsunade and Suzuki to leave the grounds of the compound. They needed to walk outside the village to reach their carriages to take the chosen ones' to The Land of Fire.

Tsunade smiled to herself - the excitement and fear was oozing from the servants behind her. She knew not many of them if not anyone has ever been outside Sunagakure. She was brought up in the countryside of Konoha a little over 30 miles from the main city but she moved closer when she began to study medicine and now she is the most respected doctor in the whole five nations. For the last little over 20 years she's been working as the head clans doctor.

The King of Suna took contact with the King of Konoha when he was informed that Kiroha clan's treasures and money were all lost. He couldn't possibly relocate the people working for the clan within Suna anymore so he needed counseling from his closest partner. It didn't take long for the King to receive a message from Uchiha Fugaku saying he would send someone to escort particular a mount of servants to The Land of Fire, where they would receive new duties. Gaara No Sabaku couldn't refuse - one less of a problem at hand, it meant.

As the whole pack of people reached outside the gates where carriages where waiting for them Tsunade said them to wait while she goes and discusses with the owner of the procession. She walked calmly to meet a head shorter male who seemed to have the confidence to be the leader of the so-called caravan.

A blond haired woman noted to herself that the woman leading them would clearly take her time so she decided to look for the crowd of people to find her friend. It didn't take long for her to notice the person she was looking for. She just popped from the crowd like a zebra among horses with that pink hair of hers.

"Sakura!" She tried to catch her friend attention who almost immediately turned around to see who was calling her.

"Emi, where've you been? I was looking for you all morning." Sakura smiled at her friend who slightly panted from jogging to get to her faster.

"Look who's talking! I was looking for you!" Emi exclaimed back gaining her posture but soon her smiling face turned into a frown.

"What is it?" It was not often you see Emi looking like that or even angry. She's the more happy kind of person.

She seemed to have a hard time finding the right words as she furrowed her brows more and sighed in frustration, "I-.. I'm scared." She admitted taking Sakura by surprise. Out of the two Emi's always been the braver one, she even talked back at the Head Maiden one time which almost lead to her getting fired but eventually was regarded as teenage's foolishness.

"W-Why?"

Emi crosses her arms over chest,"All my life I've only lived in Suna- only known Suna. And now I'm expected to just leave it like that."

"You had a choice." Sakura said while prying Emi's hands apart to hold them between hers. "I know your parents are here but like you said, when we were asked whether we want to stay or leave, you want to see something new." Sakura smiled tenderly "You can always write them and come to see them when you have vacations. It's not like you have to forget them completely."

The blond haired girl finally smiled, "Well, you're lucky. You don't have nothing to wait for you here." Sakura pulled her friend into a hug to hide the look on her face. She's always dreamed of having parents who would be there to wait for her or to miss her but she wasn't that fortunate.

Eventually they had to broke off because the doctor, Tsunade, yelled everyone to get on the carriages, each of them pulled by two horses and a driver.

And their road to The Land of Fire began.

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**A/N**

REVIEW!

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But for now have a good weekend! Bye!


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N**

**Here is the first real chapter! I've probably never written any chapter this long so I hope you're happy with it because I am unless you decide to crush my dreams completely with bad comments.**

**Am also sorry because I was meant to post this like three days ago but I was really lazy and wasn't able to finish it quicker.**

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**The Oblivious Life**

_**- Chapter 1** -_

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The carriages carrying 23 servants to the Land of Fire has been moving almost non-stop for the past day. They still needed to move for few hours before reaching the border of the Fire country but that needed to wait because the horses needed to rest. Currently they were resting next to a river where the horse carriage leader is letting the horses rest and drink by removing their harnesses and letting them roam free for a moment.

Sakura and Emi for the most trip sat quietly listening other servants, who were occupying the same wooden carriage conversing with each other. Emi seemed even more exhausted than when they started their trip and maybe even doubting.

The girls were sitting on the grass with two other maids whom they've come to know while working for the Kiroha clan. Still the two girls preferred just the two of them because some of the other maids were known to have a pretty loud mouth in some occasions.

All four had already eaten their packed snack and were only waiting for the trip to continue.

Emi sighed loudly.

"What is it?" Sakura immediately asked putting away the leftovers into her small brown bag.

"I'm just tired." She gave her a tired smile.

A sudden clattering of hoofs alerted everyone's attention. Some of the people stood up to see who the newcomers are and some remained on their original places.

A group of men were riding strong looking stallions and come to a halt next to Tsunade who came to face them first.

"Is there something you need?" She asked not backing away but keeping her stance. Everyone was observing the interaction.

The head of the group - riding a deep brown colored horse - a man with tick beard and a bald head burst out laughing. Tsunade placed her hands on her hips and the other men united with their leader's laugh, making it sound threatening yell. A chill ran down Sakura's back as she watched closely the men slowly calm down from their laughter.

Few breathless sounds left the bearded man's mouth until his face went motionless and his dark eyes looked straight at the blond woman, "I assume you don't know who we are?" He gave a sickly smile that seemed to be a smirk but wasn't.

"No, I don't and if you don't have anything important I have to ask you to leave." Tsuande gritted through her teeth getting annoyed at the men who she assume were not taking her seriously.

"And on whose authority do you command us, woman." He sniggered, the smile not leaving his chubby face.

"King of The Land of Fire." The woman said back.

Another group of laughter erupted from the men and one even had to wipe a tear threatening to fall from his eyes.

"You're not in the Land of Fire yet so his authority doesn't apply here." He said as he gained his breath from the laughing once again and pulling the reins to the left to make the horse pass Tsunade who hadn't moved an inch since she took her spot.

The men behind their leader copied him and made their horses follow.

"What do you think you're doing?" Tsunade yelled at the leader and turned to walk after him.

He was moving his head from side to side for a better look of the people around him. He pointed in few directions and four men separated from the group and went the ways their leader had directed them.

One of them stopped next to a chocolate brown haired woman, standing next a man who looked like a male version of her. Roughly the man on the horse grabbed the woman's arm and pulled her awkwardly on the horse while she shrieked in surprise and protest.

"Hey!" Tsunade sprinted to help the woman but was soon tackled on the ground by another man on a horse who yelled at their leader, "What about this one?!"

The bearded man looked and shook his head, "Too old."

A total chaos broke loose the moment everyone realized what these people were here for. Everyone ran frantically, panicking and trying to not get caught but many ended up being hoisted on the horses that immediately left the river side back into the darkness of the forest.

Everything was a moving mass of bodies scrambling and shouting and yelling that hurt your ears.

Tsunade tried to stop them but the men over powered her by throwing her on the ground every time she tried to stand up. And the horses the men where using weren't making it easier at all.

Running - caused by the panic - Emi hadn't even realized she had lost Sakura in the mist of everything. One second they were holding hands and running together and the next the pink haired girl is nowhere to be seen. She twisted her body to look around her but she couldn't identify any of the people as her friend. Her breath came out ragged and she was having hard time regaining it back - as if the air didn't want to return back to her lungs.

"Sakura!" A distant voice yelled and she turned again only to hear the shout again and to realize she was the one yelling her name.

Suddenly a forceful push grabbed behind her dress making her stumble on her hands and knees and the hold disappearing afterwards. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she curled up on the grass crying in fear and closing her eyes tightly.

She could hear a male voice shouting loudly over everything else but none he said made sense and then everything started to quiet down except the sobbing and crying coming from the people who weren't taken.

Emi didn't want to move. She didn't want to open her eyes and see one of the men towering over her, smiling wickedly at her only to be grabbed and pulled on a horse like many others had been. She didn't want to die yet.

"I'm too young to die" She mumbled under her breath and tried to curl even more tightly.

A warm pair of hands grabbed her sides turning her on her back - legs lifted to protect her chest and hands holding her legs in place and head presses against the legs - before they moved to her shoulders to shake her.

"No no no no-" She started crying again but was cut off, "It's okay! It's okay! They're gone." Emi slowly registered the words and parted her other eye and relaxed her muscles when she recognized the blond woman leaning over her. All her anxiety was gone in a flash. Swallowing hard she pried her hands from her legs and chest and was helped to a sitting position by the older woman.

"Are you okay?" Tsunade asked while looking intently at her expression as she only nodded not trusting her voice at all.

After sitting there on the grass for awhile and a few gulps of water Emi was helped on her feet.

The remaining people had crowded into a circle next to Emi and currently Tsuande was taking notes who was taken and who wasn't.

Still trying to find Sakura among the few remains but she didn't see her and took quick steps to Tsunade who was writing something into a small notebook.

"Where's my friend?" She bravely walked to the woman who gave a quick glance, "Who?" Tsunade didn't seem even a least bit interested.

"The one with the pink hair. Sakura." Emi started to get annoyed at the woman's calm aura. How can someone be so calm when people were not too long ago kidnapped.

"I am aware of that and many other were taken along with her." Emi's frustration didn't go unnoticed by the blond woman who continued talking, "All we can do right now is to get to Konoha and report this to the King."

"But-!"

"As I said, we can't do anything for now." Tsunade cut her off and walked away to talk with the horse carriage man leaning sluggishly on a tree.

Emi turned back at the group of people sitting and chatting together. It was easy to count how many servants and maids were still left: 11 or 12 if you counted her in. Most of the remaining people were men.

Her heart clenched as she thought of everything the men could do to her friend. But still there was this relieved feeling in her chest because she wasn't the one taken. She was still here safe and sound going to continue her travel to Konoha.

* * *

The horses were prepared quickly again and ready to go. Tsunade didn't want to take any risks of staying there a minute longer and soon they were continuing their way to the Fire country only with half a less people.

It didn't take long for them to reach the invisible border but they didn't stop to rest there. Tsunade wanted to get to the Main House as soon as possible to inform their King. She cursed few times under her breath because there wasn't any quicker way to get in touch with the people in the Main House except to get there. There was no messenger birds not anything.

The man owning the carriages and Tsunade had a few verbal fights along the trip concerning the health of the horse but it came clear to the man that Tsuande wasn't one to loose a fight so they continued the trip without any more stops.

When the group arrived at the gates of Konoha they were surrounded by soldiers that escorted them to the Main House. The soldiers were wearing white pants and shirts under their light looking black armor and they had two katana's with each one of them wrapped on their back.

Emi was a little confused because if she remembered correctly they were supposed to be taken straight to the Service Trade's place where they would settle in and not be surrounded by guards leading them to somewhere else.

She heard few other maids whispering about the same thing too but not one of them made any kind of move to ask from Tsunade.

Emi wasn't worrying much of not being able to see the place where she was to sleep in the future but she was rather mesmerized by the town and this was the perfect opportunity to see it. It was so different from Suna: where there's sand everywhere you go and no trees or anything green at all apart from greenhouse's that are mainly used in medical problems.

There was a lot more color to the buildings and busier streets that were full of stands, selling vegetables and other useful things. In Suna the shops were inside houses and stands like these were very rare because of the sandstorms that made the place inconvenient for such things.

What made her more excited about everything was that this was going to be here home from now on and she wouldn't have to feel the annoying sand everywhere and think if it's okay to go for long walks in the danger of getting caught in the middle of a sandstorm. Her worry for Sakura was still there but she didn't dwell on it much but rather though how great of a place Konoha is.

Even when they passed the town square and came to another pair of gates she still was amazed how elegant the gates were. They weren't made from hard and stuffy looking metal like in Suna but from wood supported by metal with elegant swirls and a clan mark of some short in the middle, painted with white and red.

As they closed in on the gate it slowly opened but rather than opening inside (like normal gates) it pulled open along its walls parting the symbol on its surface so that the red part went to the left and white to the right. The gate revealed a long road, leading to a traditional looking Japanese castle that wasn't only made from wood and paper but also from white and black rock. And what made it even more different from the traditional style was that it wasn't high but what it lacked in height it gained in width. The front yard had green plants and trees designed to look elegant and highlight the huge building among them.

A stairs lead to the front double doors that has the same symbol on them as the gate, so the carriages had to stop before the stairs. All the woman on the wooden carriages were helped down by soldiers dressed in the same light looking black armor covering their shoulders and upper body (like their escorts) with the red and white symbol on the back. Under it was navy colored shirt and black pants with knee high shoes and sharp looking with silver detailed spear in every soldiers hands.

Before helping the woman down they politely bowed and offered their hands but still not forcing any one at all. One elderly maid just swapped one of the soldiers hand away and help herself down but the male soldier just bowed again and left to stand aside. Talk about nerves.

As the group of females and few males were helped from their so-called vehicle,s the double doors of the Main house opened and a man walked outside. He walked slowly almost sluggishly as if there was no care in the world. His hands were in his pockets and he wore the same armor with the navy clothes under except his armor was more decorative than the others'.

What caught Emi's attention was that half of his face was covered by the black collar of his undershirt that came from under the navy one and the scarf that was folded around his neck. He had to be on a higher position according to his clothes. What made the grey haired man look even more weirder was that his left eye was covered whit a bandana wrapped around his head.

He looked young and handsome just like Emi had always imagined soldiers to be but he seemed even more attractive than the normal guards she had seen so far.

The man lazily strolled down the stone stairs towards Tsunade who had too watched the man come.

"Hatake, I didn't know the King wanted to see the new citizens?" She asked as the man stopped right in front of her.

"Well, he heard about the incident in the woods and wanted to make sure everyone was alright but," his eyes scanned everyone, " it seems that there's a lot less of you than it should be.." Kakashi finished as if in thought.

"A group of men kidnapped many of the woman but I was just wondering how in earth does the King already know about what happened, if I haven't sent any kind of information about to his Highness." Tsuande looked skeptic as she placed her hands on her hips.

Hatake gave a chuckle at the female, "The guards around the city of Konoha aren't the only troops his Highness has."

"ANBU.."Tsunade breathed out as if was answer for evrything. "But if they saw it happen why didn't they do anything?" Tsunade questioned the man again.

"What I've heard., they only saw glimpses of what was happening and besides they already had a mission going on and you know how annoying they can be. Always obeying what the King says." He shrugged his shoulders.

Tsunade glared at the man, "You train them." She accused and he gave another chuckle before saying, "Oh! Look at the time: The king is waiting and he had some trouble with his son today so he's not in the best mood." And he began his way back inside.

All the maids from Suna looked at each other unsure of what to do so they just stood there awkwardly looking around them and getting even more uncomfortable at the guards standing motionless around them.

Tsunade turned to look at the people behind her and motioned for them to follow her up the stairs.

The corridors leading them to the King's throne room were long and guards were placed along the walls looking straight forward but few of them gave questioning looks at the group.

Many were nervous and had a hard time not showing it. Some were fiddling with their sleeves or looking anxious.

You could feel the tension increase as they closed in on a big metal doors, pictures of dragons carved on the surface. The door was opened by two guards that pushed them inside, bowing when Tsunade passed them.

Emi had herself a hard time of containing her excitement! The place was magnificent and beautifully decorated. At the back of the huge room was two thrones, other one a little bigger with more carvings and unlike the other lesser-looking it was occupied. She couldn't believe someone actually lived here. This had to be over hundred times bigger than the Kiroha compound and that was big in her standards until now.

"My Lord." Tsunade's acknowledgement and bow cut Emi from her day dreaming but now that Emi was closer she was more capable of inspecting the two thrones. Both had dragon's carved on the silver surface just like the door had. She had to admit she was expecting gold and other flashy color but instead all she saw was black, white, silver, grey and maybe the only sonorous color was red.

"Tsunade." A new man's voice made Emi turn her attention to the person sitting on the big silver throne. His back was posture was straight as he looked down on the blond woman. His blackish brown hair touching his shoulders, mouth set to a straight line and eyes hard, showing no signs of emotions. He wasn't wearing an armor like his men but rather a midnight blue pants and shirt that was decorated with his war achievements and with silver lining and other details. The only similar clothing to his men was his black shoes.

_These people must like dragons and silver..._ Emi thought to herself sarcastically.

"I heard you are already aware of what happened, your Highness." Tsunade motioned the group behind her to stay in their places and took few steps closer to the platform that held the two thrones.

"Yes, I am." The Kings voice made Emi want to hide behind a rock. It was so leader-like if she could say so. There was no signs of weakness in it so no wonder he was the king.

"I've been waiting to talk to you about it too." The King continued and lightly slouched his posture to lean against the throne but keeping his hands on the hand rests.

"I need you to identify the group before I sent any kind of rescue teams after them." As he finished his sentence another door to their right opened and blond and brown haired men walked inside.

Stopping to stand next to Tsunade who nod her head in greeting as the men too copied her action before turning to their King and bowing at him.

"I called the Heads of Yamanaka and Nara clans to gather your information." The King simply said and the brown haired male turned back to Tsunade, "Please follow us along with the people from Suna." After saying that he turned around with his companion and started their way back to the door they came expecting them to follow.

Tsunade started after them soon but not before telling Emi and the others to follow her lead.

They were lead to another room much smaller than the throne room and were guided to sit down on the chairs around the room. One by one they were called into an interrogation room for a brief questioning and in under two hours they were already heading for their residence. Emi being curious wanted to know more of the kidnappers but when she asked a question about them a man named Inoichi Yamanaka reassured her that she didn't need to know more that she already did.

Later she found out that others had too asked questions about them but they were given the same answer.

The place where they were staying looked like a abnormally big inn that had a restaurant placed on the ground floor. Tsunade explained them that some of us might even get to work there and Emi felt excitement once again. She's always wanted to work in a kitchen but in Suna she was compelled to clean. That was one of the things why she was so jealous of Sakura who used to be the helper of the head chef back in Suna.

In the Service Trade's headquarters they were given a room they needed to share with three other people and Tsunade introduced them to the leader of the place, Chiyo. Emi and others recognized her immediately: she was from Suna just like them but moved to Konoha when she was offered a job in Konoha's Service Trade and eventually she became the head of it.

Tsunade soon left after she introduced Chiyo saying she had more important things to do and they were left with the older woman who explained them the rules. Each of them were given a small job around the place until Chiyo would find them a proper place to reside and work for.

Unfortunately Emi didn't get a job at the kitchen like she wanted but rather she needed to clean again with one of her roommates.

Rest of their day was spent around the place getting to know other people and their work stations.

* * *

The air was damp and made breathing hard. The hard floor was cold and uncomfortable with only small clothes here and there for people to sit on. The room was average sized but the amount of people there made it seem more narrow.

Everyone was hurdled in small groups trying to get a place on the rough fabric of the cloths but none of them made much sound. Here and there few people whispered to each other as if not wanting to interrupt the silence and someone was trying to cover their sobbing. Occasional moving and sifting of position was the most loud noise coming from everywhere.

Even Sakura noticed from her place in the middle of the room while sitting on an edge of the small cloth with a small girl next to her that she too was trying to keep her breathing silenced. She felt like every small noise sounded so big in the dark room where you could barely see someone's face who was sitting other side of the room.

The slight burning on her side as she breathed in and out got worse every minute and made it hard for her not to breath loud or even curse. She knew she has a bruise or even a fractured rib on her right side because of the rough actions the men took on her when she was taken from the riverside.

When the man hoisted her on the horse, his hand was grabbing painfully from behind her dress while she laid on her stomach, legs hanging from the other side and her upper body from the other. The edge of the saddle pressed her chest, crushing her between the man's hand and the hard leather and it didn't help her at all when they arrived at a small town and she was forcefully thrown off the horse on the ground on top of something metal she wasn't able to recognize before she was again pulled up and thrown to the room she currently was. None of the people that came with her weren't treated any better. Not even the elderly lady they brought in few hours after them.

Sakura almost fell onto her right side when a small body bumped into her but luckily she supported herself with her hand. She looked down at the small girl who sat next to her who now seemed to be in asleep and her body had fell limp because of it. Slowly Sakura pushed against the girls body lifting herself back into a better position while trying not to wake her up.

Time passed by as the people sat around the dim room and for Sakura it passed very slowly. Almost painfully.

She can't help by think about her friend: if she's okay and safe.

The other servants, who were going to Konoha, kidnapped with her weren't people that she knows personally well and she hasn't seen them since they were thrown to this room. But she guessed they were here somewhere.

A loud bang of foot steps outside the room echoed and the tension in the air becomes even more dense. One could almost see it. Bodies start to shook and some try hiding their faces and many are scrambling closer to each other as if the closeness could help them.

The small girl next to Sakura flinches awake but doesn't move a muscle to go away from the older girl an she in turn doesn't push her away.

All sound disperses and the room becomes even more silent. Even Sakura tenses herself.

The door is roughly pulled open and a bright light illuminates a small part of the room. As the light hits some of the sitting people they back away and cover their faces from the bright light.

Five men walk inside the room and Sakura recognizes one of them as the leader of her kidnappers. He walks inside the room looking slowly around the scared people while brushing his mess of a beard, like a predator.

He stops next to a young woman who looks at the floor clearly wanting to vanish from the earth.

"Everyone, lift you heads up." He suddenly says but none makes a move to obey.

The woman succumbs closer to the floor and so the people sitting close to her when with great speed his grabs the woman's hair and pulls her up while she screams from fear and pain. Everyone's attention switches from the floor to the man who still has a hold of the frightened female.

The sick feeling come out of nowhere and Sakura feels like throwing up. The burning in her throat hurt. She's never been got at looking people get hurt and just the thought of someone getting hurt made her feel nauseated.

The leader once again observes the room and nods few times before saying, "Good. I've got everyone's attention."

The woman held from her hair squeezes her hands into a fist and pressed them to her sides. Her repressed sobs are sad to hear and Sakura covers her mouth to try and held back her own tears.

"Every one of you keeps your eyes at me as I cross the room. Is that clear?" He says with a calm voice and starts walking practically dragging the poor woman behind him.

Then like in the forest he starts picking people around the room. First a brown haired woman, who Sakura knows from Suna, and then black haired one, who she's never seen before, and he picks few others who are then dragged from the room by the bearded man's men. He keeps his slow pace and hold on the girl and stops next to Sakura who has her eyes still on him. She doesn't want to look at the poor woman standing awkwardly her back bend and hair all over the place, tears falling on the cold floor so she has no other choice but to keep her gaze on the man that makes her feel sick to her stomach.

With his free hand he grabs Sakura's face into his hand lifting her chin up more to observe better and the small girl presses herself more tightly at her side.

Sakura who has not other option but to look at the man, she squeezes the hem of her dress with all her might while she tries to hold back her tears and fright. One tear escapes her eye and fall on the man's hand whose facial expression doesn't change one bit.

"This one too." Sakura's heart stops at the words as he continues his way away from her. "That's all we need." He clearly says to his men before leaving the room but not before pushing the woman on the floor. Sakura's in shock as she watches this and a pair of hands grabs violently from her arms lifting her up on her legs and the small girl cries from the loss of comfort and warmth, hiding her face on the spot Sakura used to be.

Sakura's dragged out of the room to the bright day light that blinds her and through the sand road on a metal cage placed on top of a carriage where she's thrown carelessly once again. Her side hits the metallic bottom and she can't keep the cry of pain inside.

A loud bang comes from the cage as the door is closed behind the pink haired girl and new set of hands helps her up to sit and she looks at the brown haired woman from Suna looking worriedly at her.

"I'm okay." She hoarsely answers and scoots closer the metal bars.

Last time she was outside the room she didn't have anytime to look around her to see where exactly she was but now being in a open metal cage with metal bars holding them in she's able to see the whole place. It's clearly a small commune with only few houses in the middle of a forest that is easily seen everywhere you look because of the tall trees lining the houses.

The people around the metal cage are mostly the same men who kidnapped her from the forest. She feels like spitting on them but contains herself.

"The slave trade is in few days." An older man's voice catches Sakura's attention and she turns her head like the other few woman in the small metal structure with her to see two men talking about slave trades.

A sudden realization makes Sakura's heart pound in her chest. It is clear that these men are not just any kidnappers but slavers. The woman who helped her to sit starts swaying on her place and apparently utter prayers.

The pinkette feels her heart drop. This wasn't what she was expecting! She was supposed to be in Konoha right now with her friend - working. But instead she's in a much more uncomfortable horse carriage that's going to take her to some place where she's going to be made into a slave.

Her head pounds and hurt - the tears over flow from her eyes.

* * *

Apparently the older man was the one taking them to the slave trade. He sat on his place on the front behind the horses and guided the brown animals to move. The carriage came to move by a tug and in no time they were out of the small commune and soon it was nowhere insight at all.

None of the females even tried to start a conversation. The silence was much more comfortable when you didn't have to listen to the sobbing. As it appeared all of them had accepted their fate and didn't want to dwell on it or at least that was what Sakura thought.

The rhythmic clapping of the hooves calmed Sakura's nerves as she started to relax. There wasn't any sad or depressing feelings surrounding her and she couldn't help but calm down too. She didn't feel like crying or yelling. It wouldn't help her situation at all.

As she listened the sounds coming from the horses she started to feel sleepy and closing her eyes made her even more tired but she didn't care. She hadn't slept at all since she was taken away and it had to be at least a day from that. She felt dirty and sweaty from roaming on the ground and staying in the dark, damp room didn't do any good either.

Sakura's listening was interrupted as the sound of hooves multiplied and became louder and faster but not loud enough to drown the sound of the horses pulling the carriage forward. A curse came from the hunched older man and Sakura had to open her eyes.

All the other women were already looking forward behind the elder to see where the sound was coming from. Another curse came from the man who now stopped the horses and bends to pick something up next to his legs.

He pulls a large dark cloth from there and stood up next to his seat while throwing the cloth on top of the metal bar hiding the five females under it.

"Keep quiet!" He barks at them and they only look at each other wondering and curious.

The carriages remain motionless as the sounds of the newcomers becomes louder and louder until stopping next them.

Sakura and the other's are not able to see anything from under the cloth and just keep quiet like the man had told them to do. Last thing they want is to be punished if the newcomers are friends with the elderly man.

"What are you transporting?" A male's voice makes the females turn their heads to the sound.

"An old animal cage." The raspy voice of the man taking them to the slave trade answers.

A row of chuckles indicates that there's more than one man. The thought of screaming help comes to their minds but none of them is brave enough to actually do it. They just look at each other but none makes a sign of being the brave one to do it.

"An animal cage..." Another, lazier voice ponders, "It's not even a hunting season yet."

"It doesn't hurt anybody to prepare and besides," A tapping on the metal makes the five women tense all over, "I'm taking this to my farm. It's just around the corner in the woods."

Sakura had to admit that the man was pretty good actor or he strongly believes that the women are animals and this is just an animal cage. Some people can be crude.

"There's no farms close up here." The same man who mentioned the hunting season said again.

"Well, everyone has their own opinion of distances and mine is that my farm is close." He once again lied smoothly. It annoyed Sakura to no end.

"Take the cloth off." A deep calm voice commands or at least that's what it sounded to Sakura's ears.

"It's just a cage." The elder now had a small panic in his voice.

"If it's just a cage then you have nothing to be afraid of." The first man said while making a slight pause as he (according to the sounds) dismounted his horse. A slow steps came closer to the the cage and the elderly man panicked even more, "It's just a cage!" He yelled and the walking stopped.

"I have to ask you to step down from the carriage." The voice was now much closer almost next to Sakura who still leaned against the cold metal bars.

The cage shook a little as he obediently jumped down from his place and stood next his horses patting one of them.

With a one swift move the cloth was pulled off revealing the five women sitting inside the 'animal' cage.

One of the men whistled, "Boy, you're in trouble."

Seven black and white horses were gathered around the wooden carriage supporting the metal cage. All of them had black capes draped around them with high collars to their chins. The driver of the carriages backed away slowly but was stopped when one of the men moved his horse behind him and he was forced to stay on his spot.

The man who took the cloth off walked even closer and observed the people inside. Sakura who was closest to him moved closer to the middle, away from the observing man who locked his eyes with her and inspected at her actions.

"Are you slaves?" He asked casually leaning on the side of the metal bars.

Sakura couldn't make herself move but the black haired one who was taken second from the room opened her mouth, "No! But he was taking us to slave trade!" She shook as she said the words 'slave trade'.

The brown haired male looked behind him, "Let's take them out."

Two others climbed down their horses and walked to the door of the cage.

"It needs a key." Another brunette said while inspecting the lock.

The one leaning on the side of the carriage made his way to the elder who did nothing to stop him and digging his pockets before he found what he was looking for. Tingling the metal piece in his hand e walked next to the two men behind the cage and fitted the key into the lock and turned it. A click was heard and the door opened without much resistance.

The three men motioned for the females to come out and they helped them out of there one by one.

Sakura who was holding her side because of the pain was the last one helped down on the ground.

"You okay?" The same brunette who took the key from the driver asked looking at Sakura who was over head smaller than him when she lightly flinched as she was placed on the solid ground. Sakura nodded at him showing that she was fine, not wanting to show anything useless to him.

Sakura backed away from him closer to the other females.

"Maybe we should put him," he pointed at the elder, "in the cage while we return to Konoha." The man laughed and received a nod from the obvious leader who was covering his face under a hood unlike the others. Sakura and two others attention turned to the man who had mentioned Konoha and this didn't go unnoticed by him but he decided not to pry into it more for they looked little shaken even though surprised.

The driver was roughly shoved inside the cage by two men and the door closed after.

"Can any of you girls drive a carriage?" He asked them as he walked back to his horse.

"I can." A girl Sakura's age said as she looked unsure and uncomfortable.

"Good!" He said and hoisted himself back on the saddle, "Then you can guide the horses and two others can sit next to you while the rest two ride with us." He gave a smile at the women standing awkwardly their dresses dirty and looking afraid.

The brunette got on the carriage carefully and the woman who had helped Sakura went after her with the only blond among the girls. The three sat down on the carriage and took a hold of the reins.

Sakura who looked at them climbing on the wooden vehicle was startled when a hand nudged her shoulder, "Come on." A blond man said who Sakura recognized as the one who had whistled. She grabbed his offered hand and he helped her behind him on the horse but not without pain. This time she was able to keep her cry inside and bite her tongue. "You can hold on to me." He smiled at her but she just couldn't smile back at him. She was exhausted but nonetheless she grabbed a hold of his upper body.

Soon they were moving again with a much slower pace because of the carriage they now needed to take with them.

* * *

"So are we going to stop at the next village or continue?" The blond boy sitting before Sakura shouted at the men around them.

"No. We'll go straight to Konoha." The brunette said and pointed at the carriage behind them clearly pointing out if they did that it would take forever to get their destination.

Not long after they started to move they made a formation around the hooded guy. He had to be someone important if he was treated like that, Sakura thought but was sure she wasn't the only one with that thought.

The carriage guided by the brunette girl was slowly dragging in the back as two men were at the front and behind them the hooded man. And behind the hooded man to his left, was the brown haired male who helped Sakura down from the cage and of course the blond with Sakura next to him. The last two were behind the carriage securing the back.

The only persons to make a talk were they guy sitting in front of Sakura and the guy next to them. For a while now they've been arguing whether ramen is good or not and after a while it started to get annoying for Sakura who blocked out the bickering and fell into her own world while enjoying the view.

Mostly she's been wondering why they allowed themselves to go with these men. They didn't know them but the the mentioning of Konoha made Sakura sure that she could trust them and she would be taken to Konoha. And they didn't seem like persons to lie anout that.

"-ur name?" Sakura was pulled out of her day dreaming, "Huh?" She was able to mumble.

"I asked you: 'What's your name?'" The blond one slightly turned his head to the left to look at her and she realized he was expecting an answer.

"Sa-Sakura.." She mumble quietly not looking at his face she wasn't able to see the smile spreading to his face, "I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" He said brightly at her and she only nodded. Her first impression of him was that he was a very bubbly person and it didn't go wrong.

"And that's Kiba Inuzuka!" He continued and the introduced male a smirk at her accompanied with a nod.

The mentioning of the guys names brought a memory to Sakura. She remembered reading a book few days ago about Konohagakure and its history and she definitely remembers a mentioning of Inuzuka and Uzumaki clan in it. But unfortunately she doesn't remember much about it any more just that the names are familiar.

Swallowing first she tried to find her voice and succeeded, "So you're from Konoha?" She asked not loud .

"Yup! We're from one of the main clans there." He stated proudly giving her a grin.

"Why did you end up going in the slave trade?" Suddenly the Inuzuka guy asked looking straight at Sakura.

Sakura who looked around to see the other people listening to their conversation answered, "We were heading for Konoha when we were attacked."

The Inuzuka merely nodded, "Why?"

"A clan from Suna had to give away all their servants and we were going to Konoha to get a better chance at having a job." The older brunette answered for Sakura, "But I don't know about these other two." She pointed at the girl leading the horses and the blond one, "Me and Sakura are from Suna."

Sakura's head nodded as confirmation to the woman's explanation.

"So you're one of the servants who are meant to come work in the Main house?" The voice of the hooded male got Sakura off guard. She wasn't expecting him to join their conversation at all. He didn't seem to be a guy like that.

Before she had even noticed he had already turned his head to look at her and she quickly nodded at him. Truth be told, she hadn't even heard that some of them were going to work in the Main house but if this guy knew something about it then it must be true.

* * *

**A/N**

**I decided to leave this here. I didn't want it to be too long or you would be reading it for the next two hours but I'm going to post the chapter 3 later this week when I finish it so you don't need to wait for long.**

**REVIEW! I need you opinion of this fanfic because it's so new and I need to know whether people want to read it or not.**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N**

* * *

**The Oblivious Life**

_**- Chapter 2** -_

* * *

The conversation ended soon after it had started and they fell into a comfortable silence. The sun had started to set and according to Naruto they would be arriving in Konoha in few hours after midnight.

The trip on the horses was working its tool on Sakura. Her butt was hurting for not being used to riding for long periods of time and the lack of sleep almost made doze off a few times but she got a hold of herself.

The man who was supposed to take the five women to the slave trade had been oddly quiet: just sitting in the cage and looking around. Sakura thought he would have thrown a tantrum of some sort to alert the people that had passed by a couple of times but he did nothing that. Didn't he want to get out? He looked liked he had given up though: shoulders hunched and head held low.

What peaked Sakura's interest was that the people didn't even give a twitch at the man sitting in the cage. They just passed them as if nothing was wrong and like this was daily ritual for them but she guessed it had something to do with the smiles and greeting Naruto gave and received from the passers-by and that he was from high-class clan from Konoha, of course as he said.

When Naruto had mentioned that they would be arriving in the village in few hours a butterflies filled Sakura's stomach and gave uncomfortable feeling for her, in a good way. Having lived in Suna all her life, the change was welcomed and even though she hadn't had good first impression of the regions outside the Land of Wind she was still excited. And who knows if the Land of Fire was way different from the smaller ones?

The talkative person Naruto is - as they came closer and closer to their destination - he began pointing out places familiar to him. It was nice to hear someone's good memories of the places, Sakura thought as she only partly listened what the energetic blond explained.

But because of an inconvenient event Sakura was currently sitting behind the guy that has used the hood since the moment they saved her and the others from ending up as slaves.

Now you're probably wondering how exactly Sakura ended up riding with the leader of the male group. Well, it happened few minutes after midnight:

_Naruto was still babbling of his memories and how everything was fun or interesting for him in his hometown. Sakura who still wasn't completely paying attention to him occasionally gave slight remarks to not to disappoint the enthusiastic male._

_In the middle of his explaining Naruto suddenly stopped his talking and Sakura was able to feel his muscles tensing under the cloak he was still wearing. His whole body went rigid and she didn't miss the look he gave to Kiba._

_He was just about to say something and Sakura wasn't sure to whom when a loud yell came from the forest around them. A mass of bodies came in view under the shadows of the trees, running straight at the procession of people._

_Sakura looked to her left to see that Kiba had already left his place and was currently holding a sword in his hand. The silver sword gave Sakura chills and when she noticed the dark blood running down its length she involuntarily loosened her grip and at the same time Naruto's horse bolted throwing her off the saddle._

_She fell directly on her back striking out all air from her lungs. No sound came from her because of the surprise and impact. The pain on her right side worsened during the hit with the solid ground and her hand moved to cover the painful spot while she rolled onto her left side in pain. __She knew she should get up and protect herself but the pain was too much to bare and all she could think about was that there definitely was a fracture of some sort on her ribs._

_A hand sneaked quickly its way across her midsection covering the painful spot and violently pulling her from the ground except this time Sakura, who had recovered her breath screamed in pain and terror. Without her even realizing she had pulled her hand and hit the grabber behind her with her elbow. Unfortunately she wasn't able to see where she had hit because she stumbled back on the ground because of the hold he had on her._

_Smooth sound of slicing alerted Sakura as she fell backwards on the ground and she rolled on to her stomach only to see four legs of a horse in front of her. The terror and fright in her made her get up but before she got away a serious voice broke her escape, "Come on!"_

_Hand was offered before her and she just grabbed it and was pulled behind another person before even registering who it was. In a one graceful move the horse sprinted into a gallop causing Sakura to circle her hands around the person sitting in front of her._

_The battle was soon behind them as the horse continued its way forward galloping through the dark woods. The speed the horse was going caused Sakura to close her eyes out of fear but when the running animal slowed down she relaxed, also loosening her hold of the man. She almost did a double take when she noticed that his savior was the man wearing the hood._

_She scolded herself for not noticing it earlier than about 10 minutes after he helped her and she didn't even recognize his voice when he commanded her to grab a hold of his arm. He had the most memorable voice of them all which made her heart pound but no, she's so stupid that she can't remember it like normal people would._

_During her scolding of herself they had completely stopped and Sakura snapped out of her self-loathing. It appeared that when they were attacked three available men took care of the three woman sitting on the carriage so that every one of the five woman were safe._

_What unsettled Sakura is that she didn't see Naruto anywhere. Just like the carriage was left in the hands of the attackers maybe they left Naruto too. Was this person really that cold that he could just leave his companion behind without a second though? But maybe Naruto had been killed and they couldn't do anything except escape? The thoughts ran around Sakura's heart making her heart race even more. She has never had anyone she knows die._

_"What's wrong?" There's the voice again and she once again scolded herself for not recognizing it earlier._

_"I don't see Naruto.." She answered slowly not expecting an answer._

_"He stayed to take care of the attackers." So she was right he just left him there alone!_

_"He'll get killed!" Sakura suddenly panicked but her panic was soon stopped when a laugh came from the man before her. Well maybe you shouldn't call it a laugh but more like a chuckle. A very low and seducing chuckle that made chills ran down her back._

_"Naruto is my best man. He would never get killed by those lowlifes." Pulling from his reins he made the horse move closer to the others._

Soon after, Naruto came galloping with his horse a one of the men alongside with him. He only had a tiny scratch on his arm that had cut through his shirt moistening the blue material with blood.

Naruto directed his horse close to Sakura and her savior and asked whether she was alright. His question wasn't answered by Sakura herself but by the hooded man who clearly was annoyed of the blond's low trust in him. His words said that he was way better taking care of someone that's not himself and Naruto apparently is the opposite. A few words were sent back and forth until all the other men agreed with the cloaked man causing Naruto to show his tongue to everyone.

The moment when Konoha's gates came to view Naruto shouted something very loudly and made his horse sprint forward. Sakura just tilted herself to see better from behind the big sized man who was still keeping his hood up. All the time she thought what would he think if she just pulled it down. He would probably be angry at her so she kept her hands where they should be.

"Home sweet home," she heard him say quietly.

Naruto was ushering the rest of them to move quicker and they made their horses trot. The gates to the village opened instantly when Naruto was in eye sight for the guards. Naruto stopped to talk to one of them casually but bid his goodbyes when the rest of them caught up to him.

The moment Sakura saw the gates, she knew this place was completely different from Suna: the gates weren't the standard brown as in Suna and everything was vibrant even in the middle of a night. And what amazed Sakura more: the guards bowed deeply when they passed. The pictures she had seen from the town weren't enough to describe this place in her mind. Everything was so different she had to get a look of everything that was possible.

The streets were dark as they trotted their way across the town. Unfortunately she wasn't able to see the real colors of the buildings that were now blackish and grey-ish. She frowned slightly. She was expecting to see it in its full bloom when she arrives but instead she gets this.

At first she wasn't aware of where they were going but eventually she noticed the other pair of gates in front of them.

"Are we going in there?" She innocently asked and received a quick answer of yes from the male before her.

_Okay... At least they weren't lying of being from high-status clan,_ Sakura calmed herself down but unconsciously squeezed her hold of the cloak tighter. Her heart was racing by the time they got to the gates and just like before they opened when the guards noticed them. Sakura was even able to notice one of them pointing at their direction and running inside of the small gab that formed before the gates where fully open.

As the horses continued their way inside through the gates they received the same kind of treatment of being bowed at. It felt weird for Sakura who has normally been the one to do it even though she knew she wasn't the one being bowed at the moment. Just someone directing bow to her direction made her feel weird.

They stopped before the Main houses stairs (Naruto had explained her earlier that in Konoha the Royal families home was called as the Main house when in Suna it's Royal house) and the servants that had ran from the inside immediately swarmed around them helping the women down from the horses' backs.

When one of the servants came to Sakura offering his hand at her the cloaked man almost scared the day lights out of the poor man by saying that she had hurt her side and if she was harmed he would personally kick his ass. The young male swallowed hard. That also caught her off-guard. She didn't remember telling them she had hurt herself? She almost fell down herself out of pure shock if the servant hadn't supported her before that could happen.

Carefully she was helped down from the horse by the scared servant whose hands were shaking from nervousness and by the guy still sitting on the horse. Finally when she was steadily on the ground the cloaked man himself easily swung his way down from the horse now standing in full height next to Sakura who felt abnormally small compared to this seriously tall man towering over her - only enough to be as tall as to barely be to the man's shoulder.

"Take the horse to the stables." He said to the male less frightening than before and the servant bowed before saying, "Is that all your highness?"

"Yes." And the boy took a hold of the reins and left to go with the other servants taking the others' horses too.

Sakura's mind had completely stopped when the servant had said the word 'highness'. _Wasn't that only supposed to be used to royal people? And in this village, to Uchiha's?_ She thought to herself and in a second everything came to her: all of the other men surrounding him and the guards bowing at him. _Of course!_ Everything made so much sense now! Her 'Aha!'- moment was ruined when she realized she had just ridden with him on a same horse. She could only swallow.

"Your highness, we'll take care of the girls." Another servant had come to them and was bowing but this time it was an old woman. He grunted at her and took his hood off finally. Even though Sakura had just come up with an explanation, she was still shocked when she saw his face. He looked exactly like the man she had seen in the book she had read of Konoha. the picture was a family portrait taken from the whole main Royal family and she just couldn't get her head around the fact that this guy was the prince. It felt unbelievable.

Soon she realized her probably stupid-looking face and that the prince was directly looking at her. She shook her head few times to compose herself.

"You weren't aware of my status?" _Is this guy a genius or something?_ Sakura asked from herself and was only able to nod for him because she wasn't sure if she was able to produce any sound at the moment.

The man smirked at her and took her hand gently pulling it closer to him and placed a kiss on top of it. Sakura was sure she just died on the inside - not because he was attractive, which he was, but because no one had ever done the same thing to her. It was a slow peck on the skin that was soon over fortunately for Sakura's heart that was now pounding in her chest like a drum. At this rate she would probably develop a heart disease. A small tingle remained on the skin afterwards distracting Sakura's mind..

"Prince Uchiha Sasuke, of the Land of Fire." He said before letting fully go of her hand and strolling away from her smoothly and joining with Naruto to walk inside the double doors.

"Hey-" She tried to say but he was already out of hearing range.

_He had the nerve to flirt with me!_ _Unbelievable! We haven't even known more than a day and he's already trying to get on my good side. Don't royal people know how to normally get to know others without flirting,_ she inwardly blabbered and her eye started to twitch from annoyance.

But the idea of a royal doing something like that to her who's a nobody made her freeze completely. She turned her head to look at the maid who looked back at her questioningly. The older woman puffed a breath and grabbed her hand to pull her with her. She grabbed her right arm and pulled but before they could move an inch Sakura quickly tugged her hand back and doubled in pain. She knew the woman wasn't aware of her injury so she couldn't be angry at her. Another maid came to them and helped Sakura back up and lead her to the infirmary while the first maid apologized to her. Regardless of Sakura's insisting that she wasn't angry or upset at her she kept going on how sorry she was.

* * *

In the infirmary - that was located near the herb gardens, as the other maid mentioned because of the herbs used in injuries - Sakura was lead to a patient room. The two women accompanying her never left her side.

By the time they got to the infirmary Sakura was no faced at all of what the prince himself had done to her. She's never been one to go after men - that was Emi's job and she would gladly leave it to her.

The room she was taken in was big one. There was about ten or so hospital beds in there that were placed five of each on the opposite walls. Through another door she was able to see more of the same beds but in the room had a sign of 'For soldiers only' which probably meant the guards that had hurt themselves are taken care in there. In Suna they had same room for everyone, it didn't matter if you were a soldier or a servant.

The women standing around her visibly stiffened and Sakura twisted slightly while being careful with her side to see what was the cause of the reaction.

A blond female walked confidently in the room commanding orders around the nurses. Sakura knew her: there was no doubt who she is. Even if there's been a few days since she saw her last time she would always recognize the blond hair, brown eyes and distinctively bigger than average chest.

Tsunade took a board of some sort from one of the nurses offering it to her and walked next to Sakura who sighed from relief of being able to sit facing forward and not feel the stinging pain on her right side.

Tsunade looked at her silently and scribbled something on the board.

"You're from the group that was supposed to come here from Suna." Tsunade acknowledged her and waited for her to answer, "Y-Yes, ma'am."

"What is your name?"

"Sakura." She said and the blond scribbled it on her board that appeared to be a patient record.

"Last name?"

"I don't have one." Tsuande lifted her eyes off the piece of paper to look closely at her, "You're from orphanage?" Sakura nodded.

It was normal for people from orphanage to not have a proper last name just like Sakura. They usually would merry someone and have their last name or decide one themselves in boundaries of not choosing any royal names.

And if you're wondering why not choose a name of prestigious clan and pretend you're one of them, it's not that easy. The clan's keep strict list of the current clan members and those who have passed away. And every clan has their own sacred birthmark that helps identify them but mainly the higher clan's know what other clan's marks look like so there's no way of posing them either if your lower-ranged.

"Well, then we need to come up with something," She placed the pen on her chin tapping it slightly, "Sakura... Sakura..." She tested her name few times. "Sakura Ha-.. Sakura Haruno?" She looked at the pink haired girl questioningly.

"If I recall correct, Haruno is a common name in Suna like it is in Konoha, am I not right?"

"Yeah, it is common there." Sakura confirmed. The time she had work with the Kiroha clan she had known about five or six Haruno's there and she had nothing against the name so why not.

"A small word play then." The elderly woman smiled at her and she couldn't help but smile back.

"How old are you?"

"Shouldn't that be in the records also?" Sakura asked tilting her head to the side.

"I'm just checking."

"21."

"So that's that. Let's look at your injury."

* * *

It appeared that Sakura was right: her rib was broken. And it hurt like hell when Tsunade tried touching it - in fact it hurt so much that she punched the poor lady to the ground. The look on the two maids faces was priceless. They looked as if ready to ran away and murder Sakura. Tsunade who laid few second perplexed only started to laugh.

The maids looked at the woman on the floor like she had gone mad. And Sakura took note that everyone else looked at her the same way. Later she found out that no one had ever punched her and wouldn't even dare to try, as it seems that Tsunade has got a quite a temper and when angered the one trying to stop her would be a dead man, but actually no one knows if that's true because no one dares to come in her way. So for now it's still a mystery.

During the unfortunate event in the forest Sakura had gotten a picture of the intimidating Tsunade, who defied the leader of the kidnappers. Her posture and everything suggested that there was more to her than just looks and brains. And she might have even pulled one of the men down of his horse just using hands but that still wasn't enough to protect them all.

"I wasn't expecting that." Tsunade's laughing had mostly subsided as she helped herself up shooing the swarming maids away who desperately tried to help her themselves. Their moves were hesitant when they eventually moved away head lowered to the floor.

"I'm so sorry!" Sakura panicked, stading up she wasn't sure whether she should throw her whole body on the ground and pray for her forgiveness or something but the small laughs coming from the doctor stopped her rambling.

"It's alright." She reassured her and brushed some invisible dust off of her trousers. "I have to admit you got some nerves, there."

Tsunade finally recollected herself and Sakura bowed while saying another set of apologies.

"It's fine." Tsunade stopped her by putting hand on her shoulder.

Sakura wasn't able to look at the blond's face but rather the floor and it's wooden surface that seemed to be even more cleaner than the floors of Kiroha clan compound's had even been. She felt so ashamed and embarrassed.

"You haven't been given a job yet, haven't you?"

Sakura looked confused when she finally tore her eyes from the floor but still answered, "No, I haven't ma'am."

"How would you say if you would be my apprentice?" The pinkette's eyes almost fell out of their sockets at her comment.

"W-what?"

"My last apprentice quit few weeks ago. Apparently I was putting too much pressure on her so she decided to leave." She explained carefully looking how Sakura's facial expression changed from confused to one of concentration, "But of course if you don't want to you can always got to work for the Service Trade's Chiyo? And besides you would get a place to stay from here the Main house." Lifting a delicate blond brown at the girl in the end.

_Is she trying to buy me?_ It was too obvious and Sakura just had to comment it, "Are you trying to buy me?"

A crooked smile spread to Tsunade's face, "Usually everyone would die for the opportunity to learn under my wing and live in the same place as the Roryal family so the first thing they do is say 'yes' but your first thing was to question my motives."

"I don't like the idea of someone buying me and you don't even know if I'm capable of taking care of patients."

"And once again, you question me." Tsunade said smiling, pulling another piece of paper scanning it through, "I know of your history. I know you originally wanted to become a doctor but the only available training that time was for the kitchen."

"How did you-?" Sakura's words quieted at the end.

"Sunakagure, just like Konohakagure keeps a record of these kind of things in case of an emergency. In other words: It is better to know someone's interests and take advantage of them."

"Then why didn't they allow me to train to become a doctor there in Suna?" Tsuande only shrugged at that. She wasn't that interested in Suna so why bother learning things like that. The well-being of Konoha and its royal family was mostly in the zone of her interest.

Everyone around the room was looking at the discussing pair and only now Sakura noticed this, her face flaming red from embarrassment ans shyness. Being center of attention has always made her feel fragile and all but comfortable, and the way everyone was looking at them as if they were some compelling theater play made her more troubled.

"I think it's settled." The booming voice of the main doctor pulled Sakura out of her embarrassment.

"Wha-..?"

"Are you always this slow? If you're going to be my apprentice you have to do better than that."

"I'm sorry, ma'am." What else can you say in a situation like this than to apologize.

"Stop apologizing." Apparently not that.. "Let's put a bandage around your chest first and then I'll go get my assistant to come and give a brief introduction." Tsunade explained and motioned for her to sit back and open the top part off her dress which in fact is the same that she had worn since she left Suna.

Tsunade walked around the bed to pull the curtains around the it to give her some privacy while she herself stayed there getting the bandages ready for use.

The dress Sakura was wearing was very simple: it was tied around her midsection and as she opened the knot she was easily pulling the fabric off and letting it to poll down her waist revealing her upper body bot not the bottom.

"Lift your arms." Sakura complied and lifted carefully her hands up to allow the woman to wrap the bandage in place to support the fractured bone and ease her movements.

Soon she was done wrapping and Sakura dropped her hands but not before taking few deep breaths to get used to the obstacle.

* * *

After Tsunade finished wrapping her, she went to get her assistant Shizune. The brown, shoulder length haired woman came soon and was a little out of breath as she greeted Sakura. It appeared that Shizune is another doctor withing the Main house but not as high in standard as her boss. Shizune took also care from the citizens.

Sakura was to sleep in the maids' quarters like everyone else working for the Main house as servants. Shizune explained thoroughly all things she would need to know and where to be and when. By the time they arrived at the east side of the compound Sakura's head was full of different information she would need but Shizune highlighted that she didn't need to remember everything right now except where to be and when. Tsunade would be the one mostly going around the palace with her and she was no means to never go around it if it wasn't the maids' quarters or with Tsunade. The palace was the biggest building in the whole village and therefore easy to get lost if not familiar with places.

When they arrived at the maids' quarters, Sakura was expecting it to be part of the main building but was proofed wrong. In order to get in the so-called east side you needed to go outside and walk through a garden to get in to the separate building in the east side of the compound's yard. The garden was lightened up by torches lining the path.

The doors to the building that was round and high were guarded by two guards who didn't move an inch when they passed them. Sakura almost thought they were statues but Shizune confirmed that they in fact where human beings. The soldiers were trained to be strict and never to falter and their training took several years from a child to an adult but mostly the clan members are trained from a child to adulthood when normal people started their training in late teens.

They passed a small entry and exited it to lounge where few only few people were currently at because of the time of the night. The room wasn't decorated to look stuffy but more an open place that could reside a lot of people. Couches were placed here and there and from ceiling to floor length white curtains gave the room sonorous feeling while everything else looked like in a normal home.

"Ah! Shizune! What brings you here?" A red headed woman walked towards them smiling. She was wearing a very similar clothing as Shizune: a casual dress that didn't have anything too fancy except the fabric that in Shizune's dress was blue satin and in Kushina's light brown.

"Kushina, good thing you're here." The brunette halted in front of Kushina.

"Well, what is it?"

Shizune took Sakura's hand pulling her from behind her to show at her friend, "This is Sakura. She's Tsuande's new apprentice."

Kushina smiled at the young girl who bowed in respect.

"I take it you're one of the five girls that the prince and his guards brought with him?" Kushina asked curiously. She had already met the other four of the women and now was meeting the final one. All the others were currently sleeping in one of the rooms in maid's quarters. Normally Kushina would too be asleep at this time but couldn't get any sleep when her husband had to leave to the castle to see their son and get report from their journey to the Land of Rivers and back. Soon the words spread that the seven man group had brought five women along and Kushina was called to help to give them place to sleep.

"Good luck with that." Kushina knew what kind of hot tempered person their royal doctor is and knew this girl had to have some fight in her if she was going to be studying under the famous Tsunade.

"Thanks."

"So your name's Sakura? Huh?" Kushina crossed her hands over her chest.

"Yes." Sakura felt a little uncomfortable under her intense gaze.

"You have something familiar in you." The older woman suddenly stammered and Sakura's eyes widened slightly.

Shizune who looked like a child in candy store beamed, "I know! I was thinking about that too but I wasn't sure whether I was right or not."

"Okay..." Sakura mumbled under her breath when the two woman beamed their heart off thinking why she looked familiar but Sakura felt the tiredness that wasn't there before weight her eyes. Like while she was riding the horse she was ready to fall asleep even more badly now then before.

"I don't want to be rude or anything but I haven't slept in few day at all." Sakura said sharply, little annoyed but the two females stopped their rambling.

"Yes, of course!" Kushina said and turned to walk away but not before motioning Sakura to fallow. Shizune gave her a small push on her back and reassured her to go with the red head.

Sakura was led to a room where the rest of the fie girls slept and she was glad to be able to lay down on a mattress. It felt so comfy and hundred times better than the small cloth she had to sit on in that dark room. It even over did the hospital bed.

"I put a clean dress for you and your friends here." Kushina whispered, pointed a chair that had a pile of clothes on top of it.

Sakura nodded from the bed and Kushina left saying goodnight but Sakura was too sleepy to answer properly so it came out as something more of mumble.

The door closed and feeling of her muscles finally relaxing felt heaven and soon she was in deep slumber.

* * *

The following morning was rather calm. Sakura was the last one to wake up. In reality she didn't want to get up but she promised to meet with Dr. Tsunade at noon.

She had to use all her willpower to drag her self into a sitting position even though she hasn't felt this awake in a long time. And bedsides the bed feels amazing! Who would want to give up a thing like that just to get up?

"Morning." The brunette who had controlled the carriages. She was te only one remaining in the room and was putting her hair in front of a mirror.

"Morning." Sakura just as simply answered back and shifted her legs over the edge to stand up.

"Do you mind helping?" The girl trying to get her hair done asked her pointing at her hair. Sakura nodded and walked behind her.

"How do you want these?" She asked looking at her through the mirror.

"Two buns. Like this." She put her hand son top of her and tried to imitate the shape of the style she wanted.

"Okay." And Sakura began working and the other girl giving her pins to keep the buns in place.

"What's your name?" Sakura eventually asked when she had finished the first bun and started to work on the other one.

"Tenten Kunai. You?"

"Sakura Haruno."

"Pretty name." Tenten played with her fingers out of boredom.

"Thanks. I actually got the name last night."

"You did? How's that possible?" Tenten slightly turned around and Sakura yelped which made her return to her earlier posture, standing straight to the mirror.

"I've been called Sakura since I can remember but I got the last name yesterday. I got it from the head doctor of the palace." Sakira explained and finished the last bun. Tenten examined them through the mirror and smiled in satisfaction while thanking Sakura.

"So you're an orphan?"

"I am."

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's not that bad. I have friends who hopefully has been informed that I'm no longer kidnapped." Sakura remembered that she was supposed to ask Shizune about Emi but completely forgot after being told so much new information.

"How did you even end up getting there?" Tenten looked curiously at her whole putting the rest of the pins in a small bag.

"I was coming here from Suna along with many others when we were attacked. I don't even know where the rest of us are except of the four of you in which only one or was it two are from the same group who was supposed to come here with me."

"Why were you coming here?"

"Why do you get to ask all the questions?" Sakura asked back placing her hands on her hips and furrowing her brows.

"I'm sorry, I'm just very interested but if it makes you feel better you can ask a question from me." Tenten had sat down on her bed.

"Well, how did you end up with those slave traders?" Sakura had been wondering the question since they were in the cage. She came up with all kinds of sob stories where they were taken from their homes to become slaver and stuff. When you're bored your imagination tends to come up with unimaginable things.

"I was bringing armory from a small town near here, to Konoha when my carriage was attacked. It was only about three or four days ago." Tenten played with the hem of her dress before she looked like an idea popped in her mind, "I almost forgot. Kushiha came here earlier this morning and said that we should all get freshened up. There's a bathroom when you go a level lower and turn left." Now the brunette had jumped from her bed and walked to a chair to pick up a stack of clothes.

"Kushina said these are for you. Apparently you're starting to work here so you needed a proper attire for that." Sakura took the clothes and thanked her.

"Do you mind showing me where the bathing place is?" Sakura didn't want to wander around foolishly. The last thing she wanted was to get lost even though she got directions from Tenten but she still wasn't taking any risks. Shizune had said that you could easily get lost in this place and she made a mental note to be careful wherever she went.

"Okay."

* * *

"There you are! I thought you ran away." Tsunade joked at Sakura who had just arrived at the hospital wing.

Sakura felt even better now that she was able to scrub off all the mud and dirt collecting on her skin for the past couple of days. Tenten had helped her to get off her dirty dress and helped her even wash after she had seen her bandage and realized that she needed a lot of help. Tenten washed her hair for her and even helped to put the bandage back on.

Sakura felt little silly for being in need of help but Tenten had said it was no problem at all. The dress that Sakura ad to put on differed a little from Tenten's whose dress was black and white stopping to her knees. Like a shorter version of Shizune's and Kushina's dress. But the on Sakura had to put on was knee length but completely white. Tenten had even teased her of looking like an angel-nurse which caused Sakura's cheeks to flame up. If Sakura could decide she would rather be dressed like Tenten in her maid's outfit (even though she's not a maid) than an angel-nurse as the brunette had commented.

Finally when they got Sakura ready and it was time for her to go find Tsuande, Tenten said she would be leaving the palace soon. Of course Sakura questioned her why but as it seems Tenten works outside the Main house selling and making armors and weapons with her father. But Tenten had promised her that because Sakura wasn't able to leave without permission now that she works there and is new to the environment, she would go find Emi and tell her Sakura's situation. At least now she didn't have to worry for her friend thinking what bad might have happened to her.

"I see that you washed up. Good. We don't want you to look like you came from underground when were going to go meet the queen."

Sakuras smiled at her and tried to keep her pounding heart in control after the mentioning of the queen.

Tsunade started walking out of the room Sakura following closely behind her.

"Did Shizune mention about your restrictions of not being able to leave the palace grounds." Tsuande asked as they headed through the big hallway to somewhere where Sakura had no idea.

"Yes. She said I wasn't allowed to leave this place." Tsuande nodded showing she was listening. "I just wondered why's that?"

"It's not appropriate for a newcomer like you to wander around the village alone. The same restrictions were given to everyone who came from Suna before you but of course as you learn to get your way around you'll be able to go more freely." She felt relieved it was only a small reason like that and nos something like they didn't trust them enough.

The sudden halt that Tsunade made in front of a pair of doors made Sakura almost bump into her but she was able to stop before that could happen. Tsunade gave three knocks on the door that echoed through the hallway. No one answered the door and Tsuande took matters in her own hand pushing the heavy looking door open to reveal a beautifully decorated room. There was traditional Japanese table in the middle of the room and a couple of couches along side the left wall.

"Mikoto?" Tsunade asked in the empty room but didn't get any kind of answer.

A loud sound of doors opening in their right made both women jump a little.

"I'm here!" A stunning black haired female walked in to the room what appeared to be a closet of some sort. She took elegant steps inside and it almost look like she was floating. The dress she wore had flower print all over it blending with the primer and the print was shown in different light better than the other. It was tight from the top but loosened after her breast, not making her look fat but slim and small and it covered her hands with slow sleeves. The neck line was big, leaving her shoulders bare. Her hair was falling over her shoulders and if she wasn't wearing such expensive looking dress and walking the way she does Sakura would have never realized she was a royal.

"Is this your new apprentice?" The queen asked pointing at Sakura's direction.

"Yes, this is Haruno Sakura." Sakura bowed while her 'teacher' introduced her.

"It is nice to meet you Sakura. As you can see rumors spread here like fire." She was meaning of how fast the news of Tsunade having a new student spread.

The reason for the queen needing Tsunade was kind of ridiculous: the color for a ball. Among the long explanation, the queen was giving of what colors she had though of picking, Tsunade whispered to Sakura, who was sitting next to her that she should get used to being called because of these unimportant events by the queen.

The queen wanted different opinions from various people, and in her words she needed Tsunade's opinion because Kushina's hadn't been what she had expected. So now she was in between choosing gold or bronze. Sakura who had never comprehend this sort of stuff just mainly sat there nodding her head and smiling occasionally.

A knock on the door Tsunade and Sakura had arrived in the room made the queen stop her talking and allowing the person behind the door to enter. A young girl in her early twenties walked in wearing the maid's outfit Tenten had worn.

"Your highness," she addressed her queen, "your husband, the king is expecting to see you in the throne room."

"Thank you for informing me. I'll be there in a minute." And just like that the door closed behind the retreating girls figure.

"Are you sure it's a good thing to keep _him_ waiting?" Tsunade stressed the word 'him' in her sentece.

"What can he do to me?" The queen just simply said back and the doctor shrugged her shoulders.

It took more than a minute to leave the room, to put it bluntly, it took over ten minutes. The queen carelessly rambled her problem to the two female's not thinking one a bit what the king would think of it and eventually they ended up with the color gold that Kushina had originally suggested.

Sakura knew her manners. She knew she wasn't supposed to walk next to neither of the older women so she walked few steps back. She also knew she wasn't supposed to address anyone if not addressed but that wasn't hard at all. Having worked for a very known clan in Suna this was a piece of cake for her.

As the throne room came closer Sakura moved her hand behind her back try not show how nervous she really was. The fast glance her teacher had given her made her even more anxious and she realized that it didn't matter where exactly was she going in the palace she was always nervous. She didn't know what it was that was making her feel like it and it was strange. All the places seemed familiar somehow but still not and that increased the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach.

During the small confusion in her head they arrived at the throne room. The huge room was so much more than the one in Suna. It seems to Sakura that everything that's in Suna is way bigger here. The columns circling the room holding a patio above them were beautifully carved and so were the rails protecting the people falling while in the patio.

Sakura felt this weird lurch in her stomach as she looked every possible detail she was able to see and as they progressed forward it strengthened.

"I've been waiting." A slowly, deep voice spoke from across the room and Sakura's anxiousness was long gone when her eyes locked at the person who had spoke.

Immediately she knew who this person was: his aura and his general essence just screamed _King_.

"I know, I know but I had to decide the color for the ball." Queen Mikoto continued her way as Tsuande stopped with Sakura in a good distance of the stairs leading to the thrones. She lively walked up the stairs to her husband and sitting on what appeared to be her throne.

It was odd to see both seats occupied because it made the whole place feel more like an actual castle than a shared apartment. In Sakura's eyes it also gave the queen a status increase and truly showed she was the leader here, as much as a queen can be alongside with the king, of course.

The king sighed deeply as his wife started once again rambling of the colors and how Tsunade and Sakura had helped her. But the moment when Sakura's name was mentioned the king said his wife to stop.

"What is it honey?"

"Who's Sakura?" He openly asked and a look of relief quickly shone in Mikoto's eyes but disappeared as soon as it came when she turned to look straight at the pink haired girl standing few steps behind the doctor.

"Her," the queen pointed at Sakura, "Tsuande's new apprentice."

And Sakura's eyes, for the first time since arriving in the room, locked with the king.

And she felt a lump forming in her throat.

* * *

**A/N**

Chapter 2! Honestly I would have made it much longer but decided not to bore you that much and it would have been pretty heavy to read because this chapter is mainly a filler.

And as you read the hooded guy was in fact the Sasuke Uchiha. =)

I decided not to prolong their meeting for too long as I did in my other story _Immortal Death_ so I hope your happy.

Expect me to post chapter 3 next weekend too because I have made promise with myself to try and post once a weekend unless I have a holiday which means I might post more frequently.

Before I forget, **THANK YOU** for reviewers:

_Bananamilkshake101_

_ApplelovesApples_

_KHautumn21597_

and I totally forgot to thanks the prologues reviewers: _KissKissCast_ and _ILoveSxS_.

I know this next thing comes out of the bushes but I was just wondering are there any **TMI** fans here? And if you don't know what TMI means it means **The Mortal Instruments**. And the reason why I'm asking this is because I fell so alone because none of my friends are not us big fans as I am (or didn't like the movie at all and doesn't want to read the books) and are almost ready to bang my head to a wall because of my obsession over the books and the movie. I just love Jamie Campbell Bower... =) His the best Jace ever.

But PLEASE review!

-Jakura


	4. Chapter 4

**The Oblivious Life**

_**- Chapter 4** -_

* * *

It was as if he was looking straight into her soul: revealing all thoughts and deepest secrets. Those dark eyes didn't falter even for a moment when their eyes clashed. No matter how much her mind was telling her to turn around and maybe even leave the room her body didn't comply to her and was paralyzed.

The time was crawling forward with the lowest pace possible she was pretty sure her heart stopped beating until it gave one slow bang. The bang brought everything back to normal and as if nothing had happened the king had already turned his face to look at Tsunade. Sakura inhaled quickly for she was sure she wasn't breathing at all seconds ago and she realized the

interaction between her and king Fugaku took only a mere second when in reality it felt like a minute or more.

"She's your new apprentice?" The king questioned this time from Tsunade wanting to hear her confirmation on the matter and the busty female nodded while saying "Yes."

"Didn't your last one quit right before you left to Suna?" He lifted one of his eye brows.

"Yes, but it's never too early to have a new one." Sakura heard the smirk in her voice and that made her tense a little.

The king's attention turned back to Sakura now didn't want to look at him and just lowered her gaze at the floor.

"Are you sure you're ready?" She knew the question was meant for her and it boiled her. The doubt was evident in his voice as he began his words and that made Sakura even more angry. How can someone question her if they don't even know her? Just the thought of someone underestimating her made her mind scream how ignorant and unbelievably stupid one can be. She had the nerve to hit the head doctor of the Main House so why wouldn't she be ready for this job? It's something she always wanted.

She knew that the queen and Kushina doubted her and maybe even Shizune who didn't give it out as easily as the other two did. She heard from Tenten that Dr Tsunade is known for having many apprentices whom all have given up so she understood that they were doubtful of her capability for the task.

But she knew she wasn't supposed to lash out on him so she swallowed her pride and answered, "I am, my lord."

"You don't sound so sure."

"I am hundred per cent sure, my lord." Finally she was sure she had enough courage to look him in the eye she shifted her gaze from the floor to face the king once again.

He tilted his head to the side while rubbing his chin slowly, seeming to be in thought and that annoyed Sakura. She didn't know what it was in that action that ticked her off. It reminded her on something that she couldn't grasp on.

"Fugaku, stop annoying her." Tsunade commanded and it sounded weird to Sakura's ears to hear someone lower to command the king himself. She was expecting him to get angry and curse her to hell for telling him what to do but he just smirked and waved his hand dismissively.

_That was unexpected.._ Sakura thought and had a hard time covering the smile threatening to spread on her face.

"She was getting annoyed?" The king asked a little dumbfounded from his head doctor who answered, "I have years of experience of human behavior. I think I know when someone's being annoyed or not."

"I knew you were old!" Bright male voice laughed from on the patio catching everyone's attention. The voice was familiar and without even turning to look at him Sakura recognized him as Uzumaki Naruto. You can't miss him even in a loud room full of people when he talked and besides his voice has drilled it self in Sakura's mind so hard she saw him in her dream and hearing him as clearly as if she was talking to him in person.

"You little idiot. You never call a lady old." Tsunade barked back at Naruto who laughed his ass off while clinging on the railing. "Come down here and I'll wipe the floor with your ass!" The doctor took defensive steps closer to Naruto who had a hard time controlling his out burst.

"Ah!" Naruto yelled when Tsunade threw her pen directly in his head. He rubbed the spot the pen had hit him and his laughter had stopped immediately. Sakura would have never thought that pen could be used as a weapon like that. The normal stabbing she knew but someone to throw a wooden pencil up to that high and hit the target and even hurt it was beyond Sakura's imagination. But this only showed how less she's been around trained fighters.

Tsunade snickered under her breath as Naruto backed off from the side of the railing and disappeared in the patio still rubbing his head.

Naruto's footsteps furthered away for a moment but change into loud thumbing when he moved to come down the patio through the staircase hidden behind the tall columns. His bright yellow hair flashed among the shadows before coming fully in sight.

His hands were lazily behind his head showing a small glimbs of his toned stomach jnder the hem of his grey shirt.

"Aren't you supposed to be training with Sasuke?" Mikoto asked from her place on thr throne pulling Naruto's glare for Tsunade to her without it.

"Yeah but we finished like a half hour ago." Naruto turbed back to Tsunade who was glaring at him with so much hate Sakuta thought would kill him but he shrugged it off and laid his eyes on Sakura, "You became the next slave for the old hag, eh?"

Sakura's eye twitched at the comment. She was seriously getting fed up with everyone's comments: always looking down on her or the job she got. And she wasn't going to this one go.

"You gotta problem with that?" She asked with all the vemon in her voice possible. Naruto visibly fliched away, taking few back steps holding hands before him, "Okay, okay! Don't kill me." He swallowed hard and daubted that coming here wasn't the best idea he have had.

"How come everyone thinks this job is so bad?!" Sakura snapped at everyone in the room.

"I've had 13 different apprentices the past six months." Tsunade replied ignoring Sakura's outburst. Her jaw fell open at that. She couldn't get her head around the fact that so many had quit. But as she got over her shock she knew she wanted to be better than the others. She wanted to show that she could do it so she crossed her arms over her chest, "I'm not like everyone else."

"Good." The king was smirking down at her but it did nothing to lower her selfesteem and determination.

* * *

After the events in the throne room Sakura hasn't had the time to return there or even see Naruto or anyone in particular. The past three, four weeks has been full of reading different medical books and scrolls and learning everything possible. She's been so absorbed by studying she haven't seen anybody out side medical wing. Only few glimpses of maids in the maids' quarters before she went back to Tsunade's private library to read her heart out.

So for now her words spinned around the small library, her sleeping quarters and the infirmary where she would go mostly to eat with the other doctors. She hasn't had any time to befriend anyone because of the amount of work Tsunade gives her.

And now she knows why none of the last apprentices haven't lasted for long: the constabt studying gave you headaches and sleep was something rare she has started to cherish. Like when she was rescued from her kidnappers and she felt the soft mattress under her for the first time in few days, every time whe walks to her bed ready to get asleep she gets the same comfortable feeling, the dirt and sweat not included.

The quick encounters with the lower ranked doctors yesterday she got patts on her back and congratulations for lasting this long. She felt proud and come determinate to finish studying under Tsunade. Unfortunately the elder doctor have't said anything for how long the apprenticeship will last. All she got was: "Until you've learned everything."

She was still content with the answer because this beat working in the kitchen easily.

But this day was exception of every other day that normally would include studying. Today was the day Sakura is able to show what she's got. Sakura was eating breakfast when her mentor walked to her saying that she needed to come to the training area as soon as she was capable of. Of course she was a little astonished but complied nonetheless. Tsunade left soon after and by the time she had disappeared outside the kitchen Sakura remembered she ad no idea where the place was. Leaving her stuff on the seat next to her she sprinted at the corridor - dodging the chefs - where Tsunahe had went but she was already out of sight.

Huffing a breath she stomped back to her seat and finished only half of her meal, losing her appetite.

Sakura needed to ask for directions. Maybe Tsunade had been too busy to realize she hadn't been to any other part of the Main house than the east wing.

The two maids she needed for help looked as if she was idiot but what can she do? She had heard many maids stalking around the training grounds in their free-time. Once while she was sitting in the lounge reading two girl were plotting on how to sneak to see the soldiers training. So it was obvious everyone else knew where exactly the place is and she doesn't.

By the time they left for their 'mission' Sakura had to retreat to her room to laugh because she was sure they would still be able to h

ear her. She had to cover her face by using her pillow to not disturb anyone around and soon her laughing died down. It was funny to think that someone would plot such a scheme just to get a glimpse of men training without their shirts.

Tsunade almost dragged her forward the moment she laid her eyes on her. There was still time Sakura was sure but who knows what goes around her mentors head.

Under her yelping and gasping for breath for being dragged with quick pace Sakura asked, "What are we going to do in the training grounds?"

"There's a try-outs going on and we are there to heal the injured ones."

"Ah! There you are Tsunade." Kakashi spotted them soon when they walked closer to the group of men circled around the vast grass grounds, weapon holders next to him.

_No wonder they get hurt.._Sakura surveyed the sharp looking objects glinting under the sunlight.

"We haven't started yet luckily." Kakashi casually leaned against one of the weapon holders pulling a orange covered book from his back pocket.

The men around the place were stretching and sparring about but nothing serious was going on. No one was getting hurt - not yet. The looks some of the men were giving the trainee's way didn't go unnoticed by Tsunade who quickly sent a cold glare at their way. She didn't need them to start and harass anyone and the least her student.

Soon the try-outs started by Kakashi yelling everyone to gather around him. Tsunade lead Sakura to a tent placed near the training area shading them from the blazing sun. The first wounded came after the first half hour, low spirited frowning. They had failed the first stage but to Sakura their wounds didn't seem like one's from training but rather from a real fight.

Red covering their gear soon covered Sakura's and Tsunade's clothes but they didn't care. They were there to help them not worry for their clothes.

The whole time Tsunade evaluated Sakura's actions: whether they were good enough for this job and also her nerves. Her face didn't crunch at the disgusting sight of blood and open flesh and the strong smell of blood everywhere. She looked as if she was just doing a daily routine and that was a good sign.

The rest of the day went as they healed the losers and waited for new ones to be treated. It was a welcome change for the normal reading routine Sakura had and it boosted her want for this job.

By the end of the day there was only about 10 men standing at the training grounds getting some sort of a talk from Kakashi. As it seems they were the ones that had passed the tryouts and are to be trained to be real warriors. Everyone of them had smiles on their face's even though covered in mud and blood. It was an odd sight to see for someone who has never seen anything including fighting.

A tall figure emerged from behind the tent walking to Kakashi who was still saying his last words. Tsunade nodded at him and Sakura who was getting ready to treat the last ones didn't see him coming until he was almost next to Kakashi and Tsunade came nudging her side.

"What is it?" When they had started treating the first patients Tsunade had told her not to use formalities: it made her feel old.

"The prince came."

Both woman were now looking at the direction of the males. Everyone tensed immediately at the sight of the prince and stood up as quickly as they could to brush their trousers from at excess mud. It didn't help much because the dirt was much stickier and the blood covering them wouldn't come off unless they took a long hot bath and rinsed their skin thoroughly.

Unfortunately Tsunade and Sakura were too far away to hear what the men weer saying but the looks on the tired, now soldiers, men's changed from exhaustion to determination. There was no doubt he was giving them a pep-talk. It took only mere minutes until the men were dismissed from the training ground to the tent to be healed by the only women on the entire grass area.

It was nerve-racking to work while the prince and general (Kakashi) were intently watching them work. For Sakura, Tsunade's supervision over her was nothing compared to these men which is kind of funny if you think. Tsunade is the one with the power to destroy her dreams of becoming a doctor.

But Sakura pushed the though to the back of her mind and focused on the task at hand.

* * *

"What's this?"

Sakura was taken by surprise of the question. She wasn't expecting anyone to speak to her: maybe the man laying on his side while she stitched him up but not one else. She stopped her hands and lifted her eyes from the open wound to the prince who was holding a glass bottle, containing brownish liquid inside, in his hand.

"Disinfectant." Few seconds after her answer came she instantly regretted her words. She forgot the honorific at the end! Quickly giving a look at her mentor and the man she was working on with Kakashi talking casually with her, she was sure they didn't hear her dishonoring way of speaking. Many times she's been reminded to always use honorifics but apparently she can't remember such an easy thing.

She let out a sigh of relief after noticing the prince didn't seemed to be fazed at all by her way of talking and just continued to converse with her, "I thought we used one that was more yellowish."

"Tsunade decided to try something new. They say that the brown one kills bacteria way better than the yellow one." If the prince annoyed or anything by her lack of honorifics than she probably wouldn't need to use them. But nonetheless she went back to healing the man laying in front of her

"Ah."

"All done." She finished stitching the man. He rose to a sitting position and thanked Sakura before heading to his already healed friends.

He was her last patient so all she now needed to do was to clean her station and go back to her room to rest. Hrr fingers were slightly numb for tensing them and doing same movements over and over again. She flexed them few times allowing the blood to circulate better.

Before Sakura could do any move to clean her station a bunch of maids rushed in and started to clean for her. Giving a glance at Tsunade, who didn't mind at all and was cleaning her hands from excess blood, so she allowed the women and one male do their work while went next to Tsunade to clean her own hands.

"There's a ball tomorrow. I've sent a dress to your room that you're going to wear for the event. I'll come pick you up at 7pm so be ready by then."

Sakura stopped rinsing her hands, "I've never been to a ball before."

"It is important that we participate in these events. They give us an opportunity to show ourselves to the world and be known as qualified doctors. We need to introduce you as my so-called heir for my knowledge." Tsunade smirked and started to dry her hands.

"So you no longer think that I'll give up?" She was honestly curious. Few times she has heard Kushina talking that it's a wonder that she hasn't given up yet but never has she heard Tsunade said it for herself.

"No I don't. You've shown the potential in you and I believe in your talent." She shrugged her shoulder and started to leave.

"Get rest. You'll need it." Those were her last words before she left Sakura alone to clean her hands.

* * *

The dress she was meant to wear in the ball wasn't extra fabulous. It was more like a fancier version of her normal attire: red silk fabric that went almost went to her knees and otherwise tight fitting. Her hands were covered entirely to her wrists and the cleavage was not too deep nor too high. Clearly to show the modest side of doctors.

Tsunade didn't mention anything about shoes so she just decided to put on her normal flats. She would never wear heels. Last time she tried one pair on it felt like torture and she had to take them off almost immediately.

While pulling her shoes on a knock came on her door.

"Yes."

Tsunade walked in, in her normal attire: light brown tunic and trousers that went 4 inches below her knees and her shoes with small heel.

"Good. You're ready. Let's go." And just as quickly as she had came she already left the room. Sakura had to jog after her to catch her but did it with ease.

"How long will this thing take?" Sakura was utterly curious. Mostly her free-time was about sleeping and this was no exception: she wanted to go to bed as soon as possible. Staying up late wasn't something she enjoyed but if it was compulsory she would do it.

"Few hours and then you're allowed to leave." Tsuande gave a quick look at her knowing what she was thinking, "All you have to do is stay next to me and when the time comes I'll let you leave."

Sakura wasn't sure if Tsunade looked when she nodded her answer.

* * *

About two hours in the ball. Sakura felt like exploding: every minute someone was either asking her questions about being Tsunade's student or to have more food. At first she didn't want to be rude so she took the food and answered the same exact questions over and over again. Now she tried to avoid anyone at all costs especially the waitresses carrying food around the huge ball room.

Soon Sakura find it easier to be when not around Tsunade, who attracted people like sugar does flies, and observed further away if she gave any look at her direction or now and then walking to her to have a chat with her.

Few times she has seen many of the group of men that had lead her, Ten-Ten and the others to Konoha dancing in the dance floor among other people. Mainly Naruto was almost always on the dance floor and she noticed that mostly with a lavender colored hair and petite frame. The poor girl every time looked almost exploding of blushing but still was able to dance around the room graciously. Naruto danced others too but looked to be mainly attached to the shy girl.

Few males had come asking Sakura to dance with them which she declined as politely as she could. Dancing wasn't her strength and neither could she dance at all so she decided to leave the dancing part to those who could do it properly.

The king and the queen had danced, too, few times but mostly strolled around and conversed with people of higher status. Even the princes, meaning Sasuke and Itachi, danced but Sasuke only once with the shy lavender haired girl who seemed to be much more comfortable with dancing with him than Naruto. Itachi, who she had heard had come all the way from anther country with his wife, danced with various of people.

"Excuse me." A voice behind Sakura startled her and she turned around to see an older male standing behind her.

"Yes?"

"Are you the daughter of Ki-"

The elderly man's words were drowned under a loud explosion. For a minute Sakura thought that it was her finally exploding but the rattle of the floor and people screaming indicated it to be something else. The shaking in the room made Sakura wobble on her feet and she fell down when the older man fell down pulling her with him.

They laid on the ground until the srrong shaking had subsided and two guards came helping them back on their feet. Sakura's butt hurt from the painful fall but the pain was soon forgotten by Tsunade calling her.

Stumbling at Tsunade's side she grabbed her forearm and pulled her in the middle of guards circled around a group of people: the royal family and other important people.

General Kakashi was shouting instructions to his men. It was pure chaos everywhere except in the circle that Sakura was with Tsunade and others. Everybody was evacuated from the ball room to the down levels to protect them as the soldiers looked for the reason for the explosion.

The wave of people going throught the doors to get to safety suddenly turned around and ran back inside. The circle the royal people were sqeezed tighter to prevent others to walk in it. The reason for people returning back to the ball room came cleas a men dressed in battle gear, blades held for protection in front of them forced them to return. Sakura hadn't seen a gear like that before so they couldn't be soldiers of the Royal family.

Tsunade keot her grib around Sakura in place as she oulled the young girl behind her. The pinkette had no idea what for but still complied and allowed her to be pulled behind the woman. From behind Sakura two men stepped in front of even Tsunade: princes Sasuke and Itachi. Both had long blades in their hands and look that showed they were not kidding.

Behind the unfamiliar looking men, another unfamiliar person walked in: head held high and a walking stick supporting himin his left hand. He took his time, as the men under his control herded everyone againts the walls and stood in front of them to not allow them to leave their position, when he walked in the middle of the room. A couple of the men took their position in front of the Royal family's circle.

Kakashi and his men Had backed their way to protect the king and queen, standing ready for any attack sent thrir way.

"Madara." The king spat from behind all his men.

Madara merely smirked at the comment and stopped in the middle of the room. Slowly he inspected the people covering next to the walls on the protective circle of men. He found the situation humorous and showed it with his dark smirk and a low chuckle.

The man looked familiar to Sakura, as if she has seen him before. The hair and the structure of his face was stirred something in her mind. Ane then it came like lightning from the sky: he had to be Uchiha. For the time she had resided in the Main house she has come to notice the instinctive characteristics all Uchihas own.

"Fukagu, I didn't think it would be this easy to beak in." Madara sounded thoroughly amuzed, " I'm dissapointed, actually."

King Fukagu didn't move even a facial muscle at the comment and just held his head high before answering, "I thought you was dead." His voice was cold as ice

"You thought wrong."

"What do you want ths time?"

"What is rightfully mine." Madara glared at the king.

"The throne isn't yours to claim. It is my sons: prince Sasuke's."

"Oh yes. To be honest I've been wondering why Itachi isn't the one claiming it after you but rather your youngest son." The older Uchiha sniggered freely, "Would you care to claryfy this?"

"That is none of you consernes." Fukagu's patience was quickly running low.

With a swift nod of head, Madara commanded his men to apart the group of people. Tsunade pulled Sakura more closer to her. It was like bodies moving everywhere and the sound of metal hitting metal drowned the warcries under it. Sakura closed her eyes out of fear and grabbed a hold of Tsunade's tunic when suddenly a pair of amrs pulled the two females apart. Tsunade's groan of disaproval came to Sakura's eyes but quickly faded as they were pulled futher apart.

Sakura felt like the forest insident was happening all over again. The tight grip of hands on her upper arms pulling her. Now they needed to hoist her on a horse and this would be exact replica of the said event.

Uncomfortable feeling swam into her stomach as her pulling was halted suddenly by Madara commanding his men to stop. Sakura wasn't sure when she had closed her eyed but she wasn't going to open them anytime soon. She didn't want to see what was happening around her and whether the was dead bodies or not.

A heavy sound of boots hitting the floor came closer to where Sakura was and out of curiosity she slowly opened her eyes. The man, Madara was walking directly at her.

The look he was giving at her was pure amazement. And truth be told, he was amazed but Sakura wasn't: she was cussing in her mind that why she was always the one getting in trouble.

"Leave her alone!" Tsunade's angry voice boomed from the other side of the ball room. Madara onlu chuckled at that and gave a humorous look at the blond struggling againt the chains she was locked with along with the rest of the Royal family.

Without a second thought given at the female Madara continued his way to the younger one who was, too, struggling against the tight grib.

With his free hand Madara grabbed a hold of her from behind her head, grabbing her hair to keep her in place. In that position it was impossible for Sakura to move because even the slightest movement hurt. She instantly froze her whole body praying nothing bad would happen.

"I can't believe it." Madara breathed out inspecting Sakura's features.

She had to bite down the insult that almost came out. There was no other way of saying that she was getting tired of being the one always in trouble. Was she some trouble magner or what?

"I really thought I got rid of you for good."

"Sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about." This time she wasn't able to control her mouth and keep quiet but she didn't get hit or anything, like she had thought. His face merely scrunched slightly before returning to its passive façade.

"And that's good for you. For now." His words confused her. No one had ever mentioned something like that to her before. 'I really thought I got rid of you for good.' Just thinking them made her stomach drop uncomfortably.

Nothing intrigued her more right now then to ask him what he had meant but it isn't a good idea and she knows it.

Madara's gaze shifted form her to the guard holding her, "Just put her with the other servants. She's nothing special."

And just like that she was taken to stand against the north side wall with the other servants. It appeared that he was dividing everyone by their status. She had learned that Uchihas are a very neat people but this was taking it over the top.

Sakura was surprised that the princes didn't seemed to put up a good fight. They didn't struggle against the men chaining them and even allowed them to lead them to the south side of the ball room directly the other side of Sakura's wall. The moment the guard left to stand aside prince Itachi changed his position to stand back to back with Sasuke.

Sakura tilted her head to the side and didn't realize she had looked prince Sasuke directly in his eyes and he was mouthing her to keep quiet and she nodded. As she looked the princes doing whatever they were doing she came aware that Madara might see them but as she looked at him he was standing his back facing them and talking with one of his men. Every guard seemed to be doing something - either holding someone down or just being oblivious to what was happening before them.

From the direction Sakura was looking at the two dark haired males they looked like they were just leaning into each other for support. Even the younger prince's face looked tired and she was sure Itachi's face looked like it too. The small change Sakura was able to notice in the prince's eyes alerted Sakura slightly from her observing.

Prince Itachi moved away from his brother and faced the north side wall with Sasuke. Both's face now changed from tired to concentration and they were whispering. The older brother seemed to be agitated by something but it was soon forgotten when one of Madara's men walked pass them.

And the first step the man took, to walk away from the brothers, was his last..

* * *

**A/N**

Sorry I haven't updated for a while but first school took all my time and then I started this new project that I'm going to post soon on this site and now I have a small puppy to take care of. So most of my time goes by spending all my time with the puppy. But nevertheless hopefully you liked this chapter.

And thanks for those who reviewed my last chapter:

_KHautumn21597_

_TheDelta724_

**REVIEW!**

- Jakura


	5. Chapter 5

**The Oblivious Life**

_**- Chapter 5** -_

* * *

It happened so fast for Sakura that, honestly speaking, she wasn't completely sure what had happened before the man's body fell limb on the floor blood oozing from the clean cut on his neck. One moment both brothers, prince Sasuke and Itachi were standing next to each other after they had done something, (that Sakura wasn't able to see from her point of view) their back to each other and next Itachi moved so smoothly and quickly behind the oblivious guard and pull something in front of his neck that made it open like a book's page.

The sight was sickening in someway but she has learned to withstand the sight of blood and especially cuts so she was able to swallow the feeling back deep into her mind. Still she didn't want to see what more was going to happen and she lowered her head just before she saw prince Sasuke attacking the other guard running their way.

The sound of bones cracking brought the sickening feeling back but at least she didn't see what was happening but she could clearly imaging it: both princes braking Madara's men's necks. The thought was revolting.

One would expect there to be a lot of screaming and shouting if something like this was to happen but the room was oddly quiet. It was as if everyone knew they were going to be okay and either way Sakura felt so too and especially after she was able to hear general Hatake shouting orders to his men. A wave of calmness washed over her when she finally lifted her gaze back on the room to see the Royal guards winning Madara's men.

The thought of Madara made her look around the room for the elder male and she saw a glimpse of him on one of the balcony's inside the big ball room. He was looking straight at her before turning away and disappearing into the shadows. She didn't like the look he gave her one bit and quickly made her way cross the room to find Tsunade who was shouting to find her.

It seemed to be okay to walk around the room since all the enemy seemed to be under control by Kakashi's men and the room was being evacuated to get everyone checked if they were hurt.

"There you are!" She breathed when she saw her.

The blond woman instantly checked her for wounds and everything, "You okay?" Sakura nodded and gave a small smile.

The clanging of heels came closer to them and they turned around to see the queen coming their way.

"Everyone okay?" She asked a little breathless looking between the doctor and her apprentice.

"Yes thankfully." Tsuande answered.

"What did Madara mean by the words he said to you?" The queen asked from Sakura who like the queen had no answers for that question and simply said, "I have no idea your highness."

"Weird. I'll make my husband look into it," the queen pondered for a moment before placing a comforting hand on the young girl's shoulder.

One maid speed walked to them looking for the queen saying the king was expecting her in the throne room and she excused herself to leave with the maid.

"Lady Tsunade," prince Itachi walked to them nodding at the doctor and Sakura, "You're needed in the hospital wing."

"Of course," she turned to look at Sakura, "Let's go."

The rest of the supposed to be _relaxing_ evening went by treating wounded soldiers. Tsunade had taken the whole situation more personally then she should have: this night was meant to be her free day for a while and Madara's return boosted only her annoyance.

Long in the night Sakura and Tsunade worked on the patient until at three in the morning they were free to go. Nurses and lower ranking doctor would take care of the wounded while Tsunade and Sakura gained back the loss of sleep.

Sakura was so exhausted when she finally arrived in her room that she didn't even take her dress off and instead fell asleep still wearing it.

* * *

A light tapping on her door alerted Sakura from her slumber. Groggily she told the person behind the door to come in but herself didn't move a muscle to get up from laying on her stomach and face planted on a pillow.

The door opened carefully and few steps sounded into the room before stopping,"Excuse me, Haruno-san?" A quiet voice asked and Sakura only grunted, waiting for the girl to continue.

"Dr. Tsunade informed me to come and tell you that you can have this day off."

Sakura lifted her hand to wave at the girl and she took it as a sign to leave the room and the girl alone. Sakura hummed happily because of the piece that came after the maid left and snuggled her face even more deeply into the pillow her goal to sleep few more hours before getting up and showered.

It was about noon when Sakura was ready with her morning routines and was pondering what she should do as it was her day off. But now that she thought about her day off it first was supposed to be her first c-section day and she was looking forward to it. Once she was lucky enough to help woman give birth naturally but c-section meant so much more in medical field that she was excited but, of course, something bad happened once again and that was cancelled. Still she wasn't able to get her head around the fact that will Tsunade do the operation without her or wait until tomorrow.

Another thing that bothered her were Madara's words. It gave her the creeps to just think about them and the way he said it - as if she was some pile of dirt that he could easily get rid of. But she didn't want to think about it more than necessary and shook her head to get rid of the troubling thoughts.

Quickly she gathered her writing pad and pen and decides to head to the library to study. Ironic isn't it - free day and she goes to a library to study rather than just lazy around the maiden's quarter without doing anything but the idea of reading about c-sections tickles her mind and she gives into the temptation.

In between her reading and studying she takes a break and goes to eat something quick to the kitchen before resuming back ti the library. Oddly enough the second time she goes to have snack in the evening four cleaning maids look at her weirdly as she passes them in the corridor leading towards the kitchen. She ignores it at first but when their talking stops when she returns from the kitchen she gets the feeling of something being wrong.

Earlier that day when she had encountered other maids they politely greeted her and bowed slightly as she did the same and they continued their ways without anything abnormal. It was like that every day but the suddenly in four hours everything changes and Sakura's suspicions resurface when another set of maids look at her weirdly as she's heading back to her room.

Just as she was crossing the lounge room to get to the stairs in the maidens' quarters Kushina came, "There you are!" She sounded relief as she quickly walked to Sakura taking her hand and starting to pull her to whole another direction than she was originally going.

"What's going on?" She asked when the red headed female lead them to one of the corridors not letting go of her.

"I've been looking for you quite some time now."

"Why?"

"The council wants to see you." When council is mentioned something was seriously wrong. Council, just like in the Land of Wind, helped the king with important decisions such as whether to start a war with another country or in some other pressing subject.

Sakura didn't ask anymore questions since she doubted that Kushina knew answers for them because she wasn't part of the council that made decisions and worked behind locked doors and she wasn't part of it like her husband is.

Sakura had never been told where exactly the council gathered so it didn't strike her that Kushina lead her under the Main House. It was little creepy to go down using rock staircase where no sun light was able to come and fill the halls with light. Down there they used candles and torches to light the path. This only enforced her thoughts on that the council wasn't something to joke about - it was something far more serious.

At some point Sakura wasn't sure in which wing of the Main House they were or were they under the Main House at all and when they headed straight forward in one corridor her doubts decreased of it being further away from the main building.

A pair of double doors with the Uchiha emblem carved on it came to sight and they stopped in front of it. Kushina turned to Sakura, "I'm not allowed to go inside. You need to go there alone."

A sudden fear of being alone flashed in the young girl's eyes and Kushina's face softened, "It's going to be okay. Nothing bad is going to happen." She assured her before knocking twice on the door. Few seconds passed and the doors slowly started opening. Kushina instantly ushered to go inside and she obediently went through the door that closed even before they were completely open. As she turned around to see the door closing she noted two guards pushing it close before resuming their place next to the piece of metal.

"Come closer." The evident sound of the king said from the other side of the room.

Sakura turned back to walk from the dim part of the room in to a circle like room. There was black paintings on the marble floor and she recognized them as some of the Konoha's biggest clans' emblems and the Uchiha emblem was in the middle of them all. They emblems circled the middle of the room and in the sides of it there was a huge marble table covering half of the room. The big table was situated in front of the in coming gap that was lined with columns all the way to the ceiling.

Behind the table there was people sitting and directly in the middle was the king. Others that she recognized were; Namikaze-Uzumaki Minato (Uzumaki clan's head and Kushina's husband) and then there was king Fugaku Uchiha's youngest son - Prince Sasuke. The two other persons sitting behind the table were unknown to her.

Feeling unsure of what to do Sakura bower in respect while standing in the middle of the room on top of the Uchiha emblem. King Fugaku nodded at her after she sowed her respects but no one else did nothing to show anything and that nerved Sakura even more.

She waited patiently for them to say something but all they did was stare at her and soon her nervousness changed into agitation and then to annoyance, "What is this? A staring competition?" the sarcasm shone in her voice along with the annoyance.

Even still after her comment none of the men sitting in the room said anything.

"If you're just going to stare at me for the rest of the day I might as well leave," that comment sparked something in the men - as she made a move to leave - and they exchanged knowing looks.

"Do you know why you're here?" The sudden question from the king startled her for a moment.

She shook her head, "No but I've got a feeling this has something to do with that Madara-guy from yesterday's ball, your highness." To be honest she didn't feel like addressing him with respect after he had pushed her buttons but she knew better than that except when he said that for the time they were here she didn't need to.

"You're correct in you presumptions." Minato replied.

"Before we make any decisions we would like to hear something from you first," Sakura nodded as a reply, "Do you happen to have any idea what Madara Uchiha meant by his words?"

"No, I haven't got the slightest clue."

He crossed his arms on the table, "I heard you were brought up in an orphanage, am I correct?"

"Yes."

"We have decided to look into you past and find out what connections you might have with Madara Uchiha," one of the two unfamiliar men who wasn't from the skinniest size and had faint purple lines on both of his cheeks and a reddish hair, "Are you okay with the idea?"

Suddenly Sakura realized these men were looking for reactions from her: they wanted to know was she lying at them but she wasn't except they didn't know that with certainty.

"Go ahead," Sakura said gave them permission _if_ they really were asking for, "I have nothing against it."

"Good," Kakashi's visible eye wrinkled as he smiled at her.

"So this was it? Can I go now?" she asked pointing at the door behind her hoping she would be allowed to leave.

Minato lifted his hand to stop her, "Just one more thing," he looked at Fugaku for a permission who nodded back, "What do you know about a girl named Emi."

Sakura's eye furrowed in confusion, "Eh?"

"You don't know her?" the prince finally asked.

"No, wait yes. Yes, I do know her," her gaze lingered on every male before her before she asked, "Why do you ask?"

Another set of looks were exchanged giving Sakura the creeps in her spine.

"We have a reason to suspect her of helping Madara," the prince replied calmly.

"What?!" Not ever could Sakura imagine Emi helping the enemy. She might be a little annoying at times and act like a snob the rest but never could she do something like that. The girl was honestly too her to do something like that.

"I guess this session is finished." King Fugaku suddenly said and motioned for the guards behind Sakura to lead her out of the room. The two guards needed to turn her around and help walk to the entrance since she was too much in a shock to do it by herself.

Kushina was leaning against a wall outside the doors and immediately jumped on her feet when the doors opened and Sakura was lead to the hall, "How did it go?" she asked before squinting her eyes and realizing the look of utter confusion and shock on the young girls face, "Are you okay?"

That sentence seemed to snap her out of it as she slightly glared at her, "Can everybody just, please, stop asking whether I'm okay or not?" Kushina looked apologetic and lowered her head before nodding.

The door closed with a bang behind Sakura who didn't turn to look at it and just said, "Can we go?" and the red-haired woman began leading the way without another word.

* * *

The next day was a like any other day for Sakura: she read few book, helped Tsunade in the hospital wing and patched a few soldiers who had hurt themselves while training.

Fortunately she hasn't heard anything more about the Madara thing that was discussed in the council and neither has she seen the council member except the prince who passed the hospital wings hall one few days after it with a girl next to him holding his arm.

What made the day weird was the occasional looks Tsunade was giving to her and it appeared that Tsunade wanted to keep an eye on her the whole time: if she went to get some herbs from the herb garden a nurse came with her unless Tsunade found a good reason to come herself and if you asked her about it she just said she was being delusional.

But what made the whole situation even more odd was that that the behavior didn't change as the days passed by. Tsunade continued doing it and then suddenly Kushina was also doing it when Tsunade wasn't around. And in no time she felt like everyone was watching after her whether it was a guard or someone else but it only appeared on people with high ranks. No one so-called ordinary workers such as maids didn't do it.

This whole ordeal was creeping the crab out of Sakura who was getting more uncomfortable since you couldn't be alone nowhere because always someone was watching your back.

Also Sakura has tried to get in contact with Emi but all her attempts has failed so far and that was frustrating her even more. It felt like nothing was normal after Uchiha Madara showed up.

Along finding Emi and trying to avoid anyone in higher ranks Sakura noticed a pattern and that pattern involved Tsunade. Every Wednesday and Saturday Tsunade would be nowhere to be found and no matter who she asked where she was no one ever knew. One time she asked about if from Kakashi who had insisted on walking her to the kitchen since it was her lunch time but he shrugged his shoulders saying, "Who knows."

She couldn't seem to put her finger on the thought of where she was. It was like a annoying tickle inside your head that didn't go away and it bugged her all the time, but soon she realized that not only Tsunade disappeared during these days because so did many people in clans.

It was Wednesday four weeks after the ball that Sakura was called to the Hyuga clan's compound because of a maid had had a seizure of some kind and passed out on the hallway. The Hyuga compound was inside the walls of the Main house but it was located in the South East of the main building among many other clan compounds.

As she went to take care of the fainted girl there was only few Hyugas in there that seemed to be either old people or children. While treating the patient on the scene she asked about why no one was there from other maid who shook her head and said that every Wednesday and Saturday they leave and return before midnight. Sakura asked whether she thought it was odd but the girl said that it's clan business and that they're not allowed to put their noses in it.

But that didn't put an end to her thoughts like it did to her searching.

She continued her life as it used to be reading book and healing patients.

"Sakura-san, where are you going?" One nurse, Keiko, stopped her as she was heading towards Tsunade's office library.

"To the library," she pointed at the room only mere meters away.

"Oh," she noted and turned around to go back to the hospital wing.

Sakura shrugged it off and headed her way into the small office filled with medical books. Her goal was to find something new to read since she was done with her previous book. As she put the blue covered book back into its place something caught her eye: a green covered book that had nothing written on the spine of the cover like the others had.

She took the seemingly heavy book to look at the name: Ancient Medical Healing. The name didn't ring any bells in her for if she had already read it so she picked it and put it in her bag to for later.

Not needed anything else from there she went to open the door, but as she opened it, it hit something and a loud yelp came behind the wooden door along side with a thud. She froze, her hand still on the door knob before her doctor's instinct kicked in and she sprinted throught the door closing it and crouching down on the floor to see the damage.

A flaming red-hair covered the person's face, but by the clothes the person was wearing and the long red hair, she was a female. The high pitched yell and he groaning supported the theory. As the female sitting on the floor with her long gown fixed the hair out of her face she glared at Sakura immediately.

"I'm so sorry," Sakura pleaded and grabbed a tissue from her bag when she noticed the blood starting to fall from her nose, "I didn't see you there, at all."

"Clearly!" she shrieked.

She was about to lean her head to look to the ceiling but Sakura stopped her before, "No, don't! You might suffocate in your own blood."

"Who do you think you are?!" she spat at Sakura.

"I'm Tsunade's apprentice," Sakura said and moved to help her up, "Let's take you to the hospital and check you up."

As she helped her to stand and began leading her to the hospital part to sit on a bed the bleeding girl grabbed tightly at her wrist and pulled her close to glare at her, "After this I'll make sure you lose your job!" she threatened and shoved her away when two nurses came to help her on to a bed.

Sakura brushed the threat off and presumed in taking care of her: taking a cold, wet napkin and putting it on top of her nose to coagulate the bleeding. Soon enough it stopped but just in case they needed to put cotton piece in her nostril to prevent any more bleeding. Her floor length, tight gown was already ruined because of the blood drops that had fallen on it when she had been hit by the door.

A series of quick steps echoed through the hospital as two women walked in. By looking at their clothes they were ladies in waiting and the desperate look on their faces showed something was wrong but Sakura was sure they were looking for the girl she had just hit by using the door.

"Lady Karin!" They jogged to her side, "Are you okay?" the other one asked.

"Do I look like I'm okay!" she snapped and pointed the cotton pad on her nose making the two maids squirm under her glare before she turned it to Sakura and pointed at her, "She's in fault! I want her to jail or somewhere where I can't see her!"

"Un-unfortunately we're not allowed to do such thing and for Lady Tsuande's apprentice nonetheless," now it was the other one's turn to speak and she looked to be in slight panic, "Only higher officers are allowed to do such thing not us or normal guards."

Lady Karin crossed her hands over her chest, "Do you really think I want to go before Sasuke-kun looking like this?"

_'So that's where I've seen her before! She's the girl who passed the hallway with prince few days after the ball.'_ Sakura thought to herself taking the looks of the girl.

"N-no, of course not." They replied in union.

"Can I interrupt for a moment?" Sakura butted in holding her hand up as if trying to get their attention with hand signs, "You don't need to keep the cotton on your nose if you don't want to but since you're this angry I suggest you to keep it or you might cause another bleeding by just yelling."

The deathly glare she got after saying that didn't faze her at all and as a nurse came to bring her another patient she excused herself to go and treat the new patient leaving the fuming Lady Karin behind. She didn't have time to be threatened by someone like her.

Luckily the ladies in waiting lead their lady out of the hospital wing presumably to change her clothes.

* * *

"Oh my lord!" Tsunade walked in the hospital looking at Sakura with a smile on her face.

"What is it?"

"You hit Lady Karin!" she exclaimed happily while squeezing Sakura into a tight hug.

"I don't see how hurting someone is a good thing?" Sakura spoke to Tsunade's shoulder and furrowed her brows. The older woman freed her hold finally letting the young one go.

"Well, she hit one of the maids working in the kitchen earlier this day."

"So you think it was a payback?" Tsunade grinned at her student.

"It was an accident. I was coming from your office when she was behind the door when I opened it and it ended up hitting her in the face," Sakura explained not wanting to be marked as an avenger for others.

"I know it was an accident," Tsunade said and took a clipboard handed to her, "It was karma."

"Seriously, Tsunade, karma? You believe in that stuff?" Sakura's hands were on her hips as she confronted her mentor.

"I believe in a lot of stuff and karma is just one of them." The busty woman turned to look at the clock on the wall and looked at Sakura, "Your shift is over. Go sleep."

"Fine." Grumbling for her mentors superstitious beliefs she complied, packed her stuff and left the room to go to her own.

Sakura has never been one to believe in such things as karma or charts or anything that had something to do with supernatural. She had always left those thing to those who want to believe in them, but maybe if someone came and proved to her that they are true than maybe she would, too, believe.

She sauntered to her cool room, being glad that it was cooler there than it was else where, and closed the door after not to let any of the warm air outside to steal the comfy coolness away. Quickly she changed into her nightgown, grabed the book she selected from the library and went under the covers of her bed to open and read the book. She read few pages but they didn't make much sense to her.

Few things here and there were familiar as Tsunade had taught them to her but then it changed into something she had no idea what it was. The bood suddenly started to talk about controlling something called chakra and after that everything was gibberish. The pictures on the pages were drawings of people healing injured using a green light that covered her hand.

Eventually she decided she was too tired to read and just closed the book and placed it on her nightstand. She blew out the candle, lighting the room, making it dark and more comfortable to sleep in. And soon she was in a deep slumber.

* * *

He couldn't sleep. For awhile after going to bed he twisted and turned but no sleep came. Normally the silk sheets were soft against his skin but now they seemed to be glued to his skin. He felt anxious and needed fresh air and the headache had worsened since he got to bed.

It seemed like his room had suddenly become smaller, making the posts around the bed seem like their falling on him and the deep midnight blue curtains bending towards him just like the walls.

Throwing the covers away to sit on the edge of the bed. His whole body was tired but his mind was running miles per hour so he couldn't fall asleep. He slowly got to his feet and went to the walk-in closet to grab something to wear. Without much looking what he took from the there he just grabbed a pair of black soldier pants and a black t-shirt to go with it. Before leaving his room he put on a pair of combat boots.

Since the first minutes of the day his had a mild headache for certain reasons and nothing seemed to help it during the day, but now that he was able to leave his room and feel the cool air easing his anxiousness the headache seemed to lessen.

He coursed himself to walk along the garden near the Main house and made sure not to walk near any of the clan compounds.

As he strolled around the garden something caught his eye. Something had moved behind the bushes but he couldn't see what it was. Just in case he pulled a dagger out of his right boot and held it in position if there was an intruder there.

He carefully approached the bush moving branches away from his way to see a woman standing there. His brows furrowed and he advanced the female who didn't move from her position. She stood there behind the bush hands limp on her sides wearing what seemed to be a nightgown. Sasuke swallowed as he realized the clothing she was wearing. It wasn't appropriate for a man to see a woman in clothes that are only for her husband to see. Still it didn't do nothing for the fact that more than few times a woman has thrown themselves at him in just their underwear, but the polite man he was he turned away and tried to avoid looking at the females at all costs.

Not wanting to be rude or scare her lower the dagger, "Excuse me, what are you doing here this time of the night?" he asked but the woman did nothing to move or answer.

He took few steps closer to her and noticed the odd colored hair, "You're Tsunade's apprentice. Haruno Sakura."

Still no answer or movement. Deciding that she's not a threat he walks quickly next to her placing a hand on her shoulder to turn her towards him.

"Hey-," he pulls his hand back quickly as he sees her face. Greenish markings decorated her face as she looked right in front of her and was in some kind of a trance. Her eyes were all glassy and there was no movement in her facial muscles. She was like a statue standing there looking straight forward.

She looked to be sleepwalking, to be honest and the location where she was made the situation eerie: behind the tall bushes and in the middle of the night.

A sudden pain on Sasuke's left eye made him turn his attention away from the girl and double in pain. His hand covered his eye and something wet immediately touched his hand and as he pulled his hand away to see what it was the vision in his left eye started to blacken. But still with his right eye, he was able to see that the liquid on his hand was blood.

* * *

**A/N**

Here's chapter 5! Now we're getting somewhere with this story and it even excites me! =)

But for now goodbye because I want to watch the last episode of Under the Dome. I fell in love with the series but I'll start writing chapter 6 maybe later today and I'll be done next weekend. Who knows. Not me.

Thanks for reviewers:

_KHautumn21597_

_caslspirit15_

Just a little announcement: I would love to have 4 reviews before I post the next chapter so** PLEASE REVIEW** because your opinion matters to me!

- Jakura


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